Warsan Shire Quotes
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Essentially, if our secrets are secrets because we are told to be ashamed, then we must share them. There is no shame in being sad or struggling or trying to heal. We are all desperate, depraved and sacred. We are all terrible and brillIant. I can list all the things that can make a girl want to escape her own body (re: patriarchy). But I’d rather list all the things that make me want to stay in my body, and adorn it like a home, rub oils into my skin, tell it how sorry I am for trying to leave, for trying to hurt it into submission
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Don't assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don't say anything you can't stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.
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Your mouth is a lonely place but I keep coming back.
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Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
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With you, intimacy colors my voice. Even 'hello' sounds like 'come here'.
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I’m not sad, but the boys who are looking for sad girls always find me. I’m not a girl anymore and I’m not sad anymore. You want me to be a tragic backdrop so that you can appear to be illuminated, so that people can say ‘Wow, isn't he so terribly brave to love a girl who is so obviously sad?’ You think I’ll be the dark sky so you can be the star? I’ll swallow you whole.
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How far have you walked for men who've never held your feet in their laps?
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My favourite people, biggest inspirations and closest friends are all women. Not a coincidence.
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Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of the tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn't allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.
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There is no intimacy like that between two women who have chosen to be sisters.
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The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to the rest who do.
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Every mouth you’ve ever kissed was just practice. All the bodies you’ve ever undressed and ploughed in to were preparing you for me. I don’t mind tasting them in the memory of your mouth. Was it a long journey? Did it take you long to find me? You’re here now, welcome home.
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My alone feels so good, I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude.
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Sad people have the gift of time, while the world dizzies everyone else; they remain stagnant, their bodies refusing to follow pace with the universe. With these kind of people everything aches for too long, everything moves without rush, wounds are always wet.
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Apathy is the same as war, it all kills you, she says. Slow like cancer in the breast or fast like a machete in the neck.
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I’m overwhelmed. My biggest downfall is my brightest blessing, I feel too much, all the time. Ya Allah, if it’ll keep my heart soft, break my heart every day.
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To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’
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You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
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I belong deeply to myself.
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Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself - what you're wearing, who you're around, what you're doing. Recreate and repeat.
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Not everyone is okay with living like an open wound. But the thing about open wounds is that, well, you aren't ignoring it. You're healing; the fresh air can get to it. It's honest. You aren't hiding who you are. You aren't rotting. People can give you advice on how to heal without scarring badly. But on the other hand there are some people who'll feel uncomfortable around you. Some will even point and laugh. But we all have wounds.
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Why do you live in your body like you will be given another? As if it were temporary. You starve it, you let anyone touch it, you berate it. Tell it that it should be completely different. You tug at your soft flesh, wish it thinner, wish it gone. You fall in love with those who praise the way it sighs under their hands, but who praises the way it holds up your weight, even when you are falling apart?
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My heart is a flower blossoming out of my mouth.
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Make love like you have no secrets like you've never been left never been hurt like the world don't owe you a single wretched thing.
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And you tried to change, didn't you? Closed your mouth more. Tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake... You can't make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that. And if he wants to leave, then let him leave. You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
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I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
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I want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
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I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
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Light attracts light. But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and energy
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I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes; on my face they are still together.
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