Bell Hooks: Trending quotes

“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is-it’s to imagine what is possible.”

“Popular escapist fiction enchants adult readers without challenging them to be educated for critical consciousness.”

“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.”

“The one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love our female selves is where our search for love must begin.”

“But many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”

“Living simply makes loving simple.”

“If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.”

“When we face pain in relationships our first response is often to sever bonds rather than to maintain commitment.”

“Class struggle is inextricably bound to the struggle to end racism.”

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”

“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”

“No black woman writer in this culture can write "too much". Indeed, no woman writer can write "too much"… No woman has ever written enough.”

“Being oppressed means the absence of choices”

“The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control.”

“Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands.”

“feminism is for everybody”

“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”

“Honesty and openness is always the foundation of insightful dialogue.”

“To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.”