---
title: "2 Fist Quotes By Naomi Shihab Nye"
description: "2 Fist quotes by Naomi Shihab Nye. Plus more from Naomi Shihab Nye and more Fist sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebf/naomi-shihab-nye-4185_confidence_how-do-you-know-if-you-are-going-to-die_2402148.jpg"
---

> [“How do you know if you are going to die?” I begged my mother. We had been traveling for days. With strange confidence she answered, “When you can no longer make a fist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/how-do-you-know-if-you-are-going-to-die-i-begged-my-mother-we-had/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebf/naomi-shihab-nye-4185_confidence_how-do-you-know-if-you-are-going-to-die_2402148.jpg)

> [“ Making a Fist For the first time, on the road north of Tampico, I felt the life sliding out of me, a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear. I was seven, I lay in the car…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/making-a-fist-for-the-first-time-on-the-road-north-of-tampico-i-felt/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/naomi-shihab-nye-4185_death_making-a-fist-for-the-first-time-on-the_2426880.png)

## More by Naomi Shihab Nye

> [“No test can measure anything important.   On”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/no-test-can-measure-anything-important-on/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“But I know we need to keep warm here on earth And when your shawl is as thin as mine is, you tell stories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/but-i-know-we-need-to-keep-warm-here-on-earth-and-when-your-shawl-is/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [I support all people on earth who have bodies like and unlike my body, skins and moles and old scars, secret and public hair,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/i-support-all-people-on-earth-who-have-bodies-like-and-unlike-my-body/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“We walked where the ancient pier juts into the sea. Stood on the rim of the pool, by the circle of black boulders. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/we-walked-where-the-ancient-pier-juts-into-the-sea-stood-on-the-rim/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“rounded shoulders, the shoulders of women no one has touched for a long time. Men”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/rounded-shoulders-the-shoulders-of-women-no-one-has-touched-for-a/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [I can never see fashion models, lean angular cheeks, strutting hips and blooming hair, without thinking of the skulls at the catacombs in Lima,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/i-can-never-see-fashion-models-lean-angular-cheeks-strutting-hips-and/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [I am looking for the human who admits his flaws Who shocks the adversary By being kinder not stronger What would that be like?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/i-am-looking-for-the-human-who-admits-his-flaws-who-shocks-the/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“Remembering your mistakes more acutely than any minor success. This was the worst. The things that kept you up at night. Tip a waiter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/remembering-your-mistakes-more-acutely-than-any-minor-success-this/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“Grief is an ambush. You’re walking along feeling fine, look down, see a leaf, and begin to weep. —Jack”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/grief-is-an-ambush-you-re-walking-along-feeling-fine-look-down-see-a/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [“Every day is a poetry day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/every-day-is-a-poetry-day/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [Teaching and writing are separate, but serve/feed one another in so many ways. Writing travels the road inward, teaching, the road out - helping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/teaching-and-writing-are-separate-but-serve-feed-one-another-in-so/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [What did exclusivity ever have to offer but a distorted, unrealistic view of the world? People who stuck only to their own kind were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/what-did-exclusivity-ever-have-to-offer-but-a-distorted-unrealistic/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [The thousands small birds of January in their smooth soaring cloud finding the trees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/the-thousands-small-birds-of-january-in-their-smooth-soaring-cloud/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [When allowed to return to the class, your feelings of humility and lonesomeness will render you a much finer student and person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/when-allowed-to-return-to-the-class-your-feelings-of-humility-and/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

> [You know, those of us who leave our homes in the morning and expect to find them there when we go back - it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/you-know-those-of-us-who-leave-our-homes-in-the-morning-and-expect-to/)

[Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/)

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