“I grew up poor, hated, the victim of physical, emotional, and sexual violence, and I know that suffering does not ennoble. It destroys.” — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
... suffering does not ennoble. It destroys. To resist destruction, self-hatred, or lifelong hopelessness, we have to throw off the conditioning of being despised, the fear of becoming the they that is talked about so dismissively, to refuse lying myths… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
she got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“Simple answers, reductionist politics, are the most prone to compromise, to saying we’re addressing the essential issue and all that other stuff can slide.… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
People don't do right because of the fear of God or love of him. You do right because the world doesn't make sense if… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“I had to say to her that it isn’t just men, and it isn’t just men “like that.” I had to talk to her… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“Entitlement, I have told them, is a matter of feeling like we rather than they.” — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“Love was something I would not have to worry about - the whole mystery of love, heartbreak songs, and family legends. Women who pined,… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“Behind the story I tell is the one I don't. Behind the story you hear is the one I wish I could make you… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
Hunger makes you restless. you dream about food - not just any food, but perfect food, the best food, magical meals, famous and awe-inspiring,… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
I think I would have died if there hadn't been the women's movement. It gave me a vision that I could do something different,… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
People begin to write in order to create what they have not found and, a little bit, to give something back. — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
The hardest thing to teach young writers is that it's wonderful to tell your truth. And that's what you should do. But it damn… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
“The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and communities depends… — Dorothy Allison Copy Share Image
