People Quotes by Bell Hooks

True resistance begins with people confronting pain... and wanting to do something to change it.

— Bell Hooks

These days I wonder more and more why people are pessimistic when American history actually supports optimism.

— bell hooks

It really fascinates me what white people are allowed to write about.

— bell hooks

I think life experiences are different for people who know what they want as children.

— bell hooks

I do get a little pissed at people who write me and want me to do things, and spell my name wrong.

— Bell Hooks

Lying has become so much the accepted norm that people lie even when it would be simpler to tell the truth.

— Bell Hooks

Even when people capitalize my name, I don't freak out, even though that would not be my choice.

— Bell Hooks

People with healthy self-esteem do not need to create pretend identities.

— Bell Hooks

Representation is a crucial location of struggle for any exploited and oppressed people asserting subjectivity and decolonization of the mind.

— Bell Hooks

As more people of color raise our consciousness and refuse to be pitted against one another, the forces of neo-colonial white supremacist…

— Bell Hooks

While it has become “cool” for white folks to hang out with black people and express pleasure in black culture, most white…

— Bell Hooks

I get so tired of people acting like, you know, black men and women never help each other, never support each other.

— Bell Hooks

In general, the mass media tell us that black people are not loving, that our lives are so fraught with violence and…

— bell hooks

Young people are cynical about love. Ultimately, cynicism is the great mask of the disappointed and betrayed heart.

— Bell Hooks

I think it's crazy for us to think that people don't understand what's being foregrounded in their lives at a given point…

— Bell Hooks

Once you do away with the idea of people as fixed, static entities, then you see that people can change, and there…

— Bell Hooks

Often their rage erupts because they believe that all ways of looking that highlight difference subvert the liberal belief in a universal…

— Bell Hooks

A very hurting thing for Black Americans - to feel that we can't love our enemies. People forget what a great tradition…

— Bell Hooks

We live in a world with serious class complexes. It is one thing to be a college student with loan debts and…

— Bell Hooks

Usually, when people talk about the "strength" of black women . . . . they ignore the reality that to be strong…

— Bell Hooks

I still think it's important for people to have a sharp, ongoing critique of marriage in patriarchal society — because once you…

— Bell Hooks

War in its essence is another form of capitalism. Wars make people rich - and they make a lot of people poor,…

— Bell Hooks

It is no accident that this homeplace, as fragile and as transitional as it may be, a makeshift shed, a small bit…

— Bell Hooks

One difference with the political writings, whether about feminism or class, is that the intent is to change how people think of…

— Bell Hooks

I see myself, in terms of the question of capitalism, as I would support democratic socialism over a capitalist system, because any…

— Bell Hooks

Genuine love is rarely an emotional space where needs are instantly gratified. To know love we have to invest time and commitment...'dreaming…

— Bell Hooks

I grew up in the midst of poverty but every black kid that I knew could read and write. We have to…

— Bell Hooks

When the feminist movement was at its zenith in the late 60's and early 70's, there was a lot of moving away…

— Bell Hooks

I think the invitation offered the non-black reader is to join us in this expression of our familiarity and via that joining,…

— Bell Hooks

It was the world of Southern, rural, black growing up, of folks sitting on porches day and night, of folks calling your…

— Bell Hooks

It is obvious that many women have appropriated feminism to serve their own ends, especially those white women who have been at…

— Bell Hooks

…“white supremacy” is a much more useful term for understanding the complicity of people of color in upholding and maintaining racial hierarchies…

— Bell Hooks

I think the number one thing Black women and all Black people should be paying attention to is our health.

— Bell Hooks

Every terrorist regime in the world uses isolation to break people's spirits.

— bell hooks

I think we have to talk about educating the people for critical consciousness about what anarchy is.

— Bell Hooks

I think Black people need to take self-esteem seriously.

— Bell Hooks

The people I love, I'm committed to loving for the rest of my life.

— bell hooks

Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power - not because they don't see it, but because they…

— Bell Hooks

One of the things I find most exciting is talking with people who are working with my work. Who are using it…

— Bell Hooks

Wars make people rich - and they make a lot of people poor, and they take a lot of people's lives away…

— Bell Hooks