Nayyirah Waheed Quotes

you not wanting me was the beginning of me wanting myself thank you

if the ocean can calm itself, so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air.

i don't pay attention to the world ending. it has ended for me many times and began again in the morning.

expect sadness like you expect rain. both, cleanse you.

Chemistry is you touching my arm and it setting fire to my mind" Nayyirah Waheed

remember, you were a writer before you ever put pen to paper. just because you were not writing externally. does not mean you were not writing internally.

i am mine. before i am ever anyone else's.

i love myself.' the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution. ever.

Just because someone desires you, it does not mean that they value you. Read it over. Again. Let those words resonate in your mind.

i loved you because it was easier than loving myself.

No’ might make them angry but it will make you free.

Desire is the kind of thing that eats you and leaves you starving.

i bleed every month. but do not die. how am i not magic. – the lie

If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the world is nothing but endings.

When I am afraid to speak is when I speak. That is when it is most important.

where you are. is not who you are. – circumstances

it is being honest about my pain that makes me invincible.

she asked ‘you are in love, what does love look like’ to which i replied ‘like everything i’ve ever lost come back to me.

you broke the ocean in half to be here. only to meet nothing that wants you. – immigrant

Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.

there have been so many times i have seen a man wanting to weep but instead beat his heart until it was unconscious.

never trust anyone who says they do not see color. this means to them, you are invisible.

in our own ways we all break. it is okay to hold your heart outside of your body for days. months. years. at a time. – heal

i knew you before i met you. i’ve known you my whole life.

Even if you are a small forest surviving off of moon alone, your light is extraordinary.

I want to live so densely. lush. and slow in the next few years, that a year becomes ten years, and my past becomes only a page in the book of my life.

both. i want to stay. i want to leave. i am three oceans away from my soul. – lost

the truth is you were born for you. you were wanted by you. you came for you. you are here for you. your existence is yours. yes.

grieve. so that you can be free to feel something else.

when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be five mins. five hours. five days. five months. five years. a lifetime. five lifetimes. let it manifest itself the way it is meant to. it has an organic destiny. this way if it stays or if it leaves, you will be softer. from having been loved this authentically. souls come into. return. open. and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons. let them be who. and what they are meant.

and i said to my body. softly. ‘i want to be your friend.’ it took a long breath. and replied ‘i have been waiting my whole life for this.

do not choose the lesser life. do you hear me. do you hear me. choose the life that is. yours. the life that is seducing your lungs. that is dripping down your chin.

if we must both be right. we will lose each other.

there are feelings. you haven’t felt yet. give them time. they are almost here. – fresh

i have always been the woman of my dreams.

be easy. take your time. you are coming home. to yourself. — the becoming

i do not expect my child’s respect. just because i have given birth to their life. does not mean they owe me. anything. what i want most is to look into my child’s eyes and see that i have given birth to a heart. have honored. held and feed. someones heart. from the moment we first met. and they love me for it.

cruel mothers are still mothers. they make us wars. they make us revolution. they teach us the truth. early. mothers are humans. who sometimes give birth to their pain. instead of children. – hate

i think one of the most pathological things i have ever seen is stabbing someone and then telling them that their pain and anger over being stabbed is making you sad. – white guilt

no' might make them angry but it will make you free. - if no one has ever told you, your freedom is more important than their anger.

there is no healthier drug than creativity.

listen to my poems but do not look for me look for you.

would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you. – a question of appropriation

you ask your heart why it is always hurting. it says ‘this is the only thing you will allow me to say to you. the only feeling you are willing to feel.

can we speak in flowers. it will be easier for me to understand.

go. enjoy. leave. it was all about you, anyway.

and i heard her say, 'you are afraid of love. but love is not afraid of you.

if someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. but if i do not want me. the world is nothing but endings.

My mother was my first country, the first place I ever lived.

you. not wanting me. was the beginning of me wanting myself. thank you. -the hurt

poetry. is the fire leaving my body.

i believe that everyone in the world. has one poem. that is their soulmate.

all the women. in me. are tired.

sit in the ocean. it is one of the best medicines on the planet. – the water

As a writer, if someone falls in love with my work, I know they have fallen in love with my mind. Having no idea what my face looks like, they chose my mind. Art may be the only place a woman can be whole without being seen.

you are a story. do not become a word. one word. because you want to be loved. love does not ask you to be nothing for something.

the worst thing that ever happened to the world was the white man coming across gun powder. –– the end of the world | the beginning of white supremacy

sometimes the beauty of my people is so thick and intricate. i spend days trying to undo my eyes so i can sleep.

be softer with you. you are a breathing thing. a memory to someone. a home to a life.

why can we never talk about the blood. the blood of our ancestors. the blood of our history. the blood between our legs. – blood

does he not remember he is half woman.

i found flaws and they were beautiful. – ugly

i will always be a translation.

i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day.

she asked ‘you are in love what does love look like’ to which i replied ‘like everything i’ve ever lost come back to me.

if the ocean can calm itself so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air. – meditation

a lie is simply a lie. it draws its strength from belief. stop believing in what hurts you. – power

Some words. The way they look at you...

if you show someone the sun in your bones and they reject you you must remember. they hurt themselves this very same way. – unable

you see your face. you see a flaw. how. if you are the only one who has this face. – the beauty construct

The thing you are most afraid to write Write that.

the cure for apathy is memory.

i wake to you everywhere. yet you are not here. – reach

my whole life i have ate my tongue. ate my tongue. ate my tongue. i am so full of my tongue you would think speaking is easy. but it is not. – for we who keep our lives in our mouths

sometimes i want to say it. and there is nothing in english. that will say it.

it was only and ever love.

a poem can eat a person whole. for years.

Just because someone desires you, it does not mean they value you. Read it over. Again And let those words resonate in your mind.

put some honey and sea water by your bed. acknowledge. that your being needs sweetness and cleansing. that it is sore. that you are. soft. - orishas

creativity keeps the world alive, yet, everyday we are asked to be ashamed of honoring it, wanting to live our lives as artists. i’ve carried the shame of being a ‘creative’ since i came to the planet; have been asked to be something different, more, less my whole life. thank spirit, my wisdom is deeper than my shame, and i listened to who i was. i want to say to all the creatives who have been taught to believe who you are is not enough for this world, taught that a life of art will amount to nothing, know that who we are, and what we do is life. when we create, we are creating the world. remember this, and commit.

i have lost millions and millions of words to fear. tell me that is not violence. - the deaths

the thing you are most afraid to write. write that. – advice to young writers

if we. are with child. and you believe that fatherhood begins when my body pours a baby into your hands. not before. you do not deserve this child. you are a coward. – you are a father the moment you enter me

my heart is in my mind. i think this is why i am an artist.

yes. yes i do. have the right to be this lush and neverending.

leaving. doesn’t mean that you’ve left.

sometimes the night wakes in the middle of me. and i can do nothing but become the moon.

I am your friend. a soul for your soul. a place for your life. home. know this. sun or water. here or away. we are a lighthouse. we leave. and we stay.

what i never learned from my mother was that just because someone desires you does not mean they value you. desire is the kind of thing that eats you and leaves you starving.

eyes that commit. that is what I am looking for.

i want more ‘men’ with flowers falling from their skin. more water in their eyes. more tremble in their bodies. more women in their hearts than on their hands. more softness in their height. more honesty in their voice. more wonder. more humility in their feet. – less

if we wanted to. people of color could burn the world down. for what we have experienced. are experiencing. but we don’t. – how stunningly beautiful that our sacred respect for the earth. for life. is deeper than our rage

decolonization requires acknowledging. that your needs and desires should never come at the expense of another’s life energy. it is being honest that you have been spoiled by a machine that is not feeding you freedom but feeding you the milk of pain. – the release

i have never understood. will probably never understand. the white mans lust to eat the world. to eat the universe. (mars is next) why he was born with such a rabid starvation. why he feigns for power like crack rock. doing everything. and anything. to have it. no matter how deranged. why he is in so much pain he needs to rip the roots of happiness from the earth and burn them into his smile. what happened in his relationship with our mother. that he needs to set a person on fire. watch them burn. to feel powerful. not every white man is born this way, but, it stands to remain there are many who are.

men give birth, too. to children. to longings. to dreams. that they must hide. their stomachs. their uteruses. their hungers. their softness. their cravings for touch. to be a man. is the thing that closes their light. and eats their eyes. – him

i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day. (your beauty is a given. every being is born beautiful). knowing your worth can save your life. raising you on beauty alone you will be starved. you will be raw. you will be weak. an easy stomach. always in need of someone telling you how beautiful you are. – emotional nutrition

as you are.’ says the universe. ‘after…’ you answer. ‘as you are.’ says the universe. ‘before…’ you answer. ‘as you are.’ says the universe. ‘when…’ you answer. ‘as you are.’ says the universe. ‘how…’ you answer. ‘as you are.’ says the universe. ‘why…’ you answer. ‘because you are happening now. right now. right at this moment and your happening is beautiful. the thing that both keeps me alive and brings me to my knees. you don’t even know how breathtaking you are. as you are.’ says the universe through tears. — as you are | you are the prayer

the first time the caregiver saw it on the child. they said ‘no. don’t you dare. you will not grow up thinking you are unwanted. because your parents. chose themselves. over you. this will not be your story because it is not the truth. the truth. is your creation is not about them. you came through them, my love, they were your vessel. the truth. is you were born for you. you were wanted by you. you came for you. you are here for you. your existence is yours. yes. you will want them. (and on odd and warm nights they will think of you and hold themselves tighter.) but. what you do not get. from them. does not make you less. does not make you unwanted. (trust that all you did not receive. all you need. will come to you. in time. the universe is infinite.’) — a love poem

as an artist, i do not always enjoy the questions, ‘what were you thinking when you wrote this. what was the inspiration behind this.’ these questions imply that there is always thought involved in creation. for me it is the exact opposite. creativity is the act of experiencing the unconscious in the conscious. sometimes, i want to say, without sarcasm, ‘i do not know what my soul was thinking when i wrote that poem, i was too busy listening.

the hard season will split you through. do not worry. you will bleed water. do not worry. this is grief. your face will fall out and down your skin and there will be scorching. but do not worry. keep speaking the years from their hiding places. keep coughing up smoke from all the deaths you have died. keep the rage tender. because the soft season will come. it will come. loud. ready. gulping. both hands in your chest. up all night. up all of the nights. to drink all damage into love. – therapy