Nayyirah Waheed

“i am a brutally soft woman.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am writing my way back to you.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

“it was only and ever love.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“poetry. is the fire leaving my body.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i loved you because it was easier than loving myself.”

— Nayyirah waheed

“there is no healthier drug than creativity.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

“we are houses eaten by rivers because we do not know their smell.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah waheed

“as a child there was either books or pain. i chose books. -how i became a writer”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

“I think gentleness is one of the most disarmingly and captivatingly attractive qualities there are.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“fell apart many times. so. what does that say about me besides i live through wars.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“stay is a sensitive word. we wear who stayed and who left in our skin forever”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“to be waterdrugged into rejecting the nuances of my own bursting extraordinary self. and to have this be called education.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“cruel mothers are still mothers. they make us wars. they make us revolution. they teach us the truth. early. mothers are humans.…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“I want to live so densely. lush. and slow in the next few years, that a year becomes ten years, and my…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“unharm someone by telling the truth you could not face when you struck instead of tended. – put the fire out (unburn)”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“have you ever heard a black woman weep over her skinmurdered child. it is the splitting of atoms. it is billions of…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“if a man can only show vulnerability for what is between my legs. can only be a heart during sex. if an…

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

“precious. is a word we barely know. but know we are not. so then i say this to you. you. with the…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“islam. is still in my life. we are old soulmates. who could not work out the knots against skin. who could not…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day. (your beauty is a given. every being is…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am drunk from all the honey. i have been drinking. for days straight. every night i eat water until i fall…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“my english is broken. on purpose. you have to try harder to understand me. breaking this language you so love is my…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i do not expect my child’s respect. just because i have given birth to their life. does not mean they owe me.…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“black women breathe flowers, too. just because we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret)…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“decolonization requires acknowledging. that your needs and desires should never come at the expense of another’s life energy. it is being honest…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“creativity keeps the world alive, yet, everyday we are asked to be ashamed of honoring it, wanting to live our lives as…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“the first time the caregiver saw it on the child. they said ‘no. don’t you dare. you will not grow up thinking…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i have never understood. will probably never understand. the white mans lust to eat the world. to eat the universe. (mars is…

— nayyirah waheed

“a friend. is someone who supports your breath.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed

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

— Nayyirah Waheed