--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fundamentally, I started writing to save…" description: "\"“Fundamentally, I started writing to save my life. Yes, my own life first. I see the same impulse in my students-the dark, the queer, the mixed-blood, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d42/cherrie-moraga-30761_chicana_fundamentally-i-started-writing-to-save_721673.jpg" --- # Fundamentally, I started writing to save my life. Yes, my… ![“Fundamentally, I started writing to save my life. Yes, my own life first. I see the same impulse in my students-the dark, the queer, the mixed-blood, the violated-turning to the written page with a relentless passion, a drive to avenge their own silence, invisibility, and erasure as living…” quote by Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d42/cherrie-moraga-30761_chicana_fundamentally-i-started-writing-to-save_721673.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d42/cherrie-moraga-30761_chicana_fundamentally-i-started-writing-to-save_721673.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d42/cherrie-moraga-30761_chicana_fundamentally-i-started-writing-to-save_721673.jpg) > ““Fundamentally, I started writing to save my life. Yes, my own life first. I see the same impulse in my students-the dark, the queer, the mixed-blood, the violated-turning to the written page with a relentless passion, a drive to avenge their own silence, invisibility, and erasure as living, innately expressive human beings.”” [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing serves as a lifeline for marginalized voices to claim existence and resist erasure. **In simple terms:** Writing gives voice to the silenced. Key Takeaway Encourage writing as empowerment. Themes identity resistance expression Mood inspirational empathetic Type social transformational When to use this quote - education curricula - community workshops - mental health therapy Key Concepts narrative therapy social justice Questions to Reflect On - How can institutions amplify these voices? - What barriers prevent marginalized writers from publishing? A Different Perspective Writing alone may not change structural oppression without broader support. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Feminist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminist/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“We’re afraid the others will think we’re agringadas because we don’t speak Chicano Spanish. 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It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to a publisher…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-started-writing-at-the-kitchen-table-after-midnight-it-took-ten/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [I always liked movies, so I started writing for Hollywood, but my day job was physics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-mlodinow/i-always-liked-movies-so-i-started-writing-for-hollywood-but-my-day/) [Leonard Mlodinow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-mlodinow/) > [“Everyone asks me how I got started into writing. I wish I had some cool story to tell, but the truth is pretty lame.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-faris/everyone-asks-me-how-i-got-started-into-writing-i-wish-i-had-some/) Jason Faris > [I think I started writing because no one had ever told me you can write about the things you know in a musical. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lin-manuel-miranda/i-think-i-started-writing-because-no-one-had-ever-told-me-you-can/) [Lin-Manuel Miranda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lin-manuel-miranda/) > [I only started writing in the latter days of Spandau Ballet. I didnt know I could write because all had our roles within the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hadley/i-only-started-writing-in-the-latter-days-of-spandau-ballet-i-didnt/) [Tony Hadley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hadley/) > [I've always loved to write, and I wrote fiction all my life. That's what I thought I was going to do in my life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-shears/i-ve-always-loved-to-write-and-i-wrote-fiction-all-my-life-that-s/) [Jake Shears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-shears/) > [If you watch home videos, at 4 years old, I was doing nothing but being the entertainer. Singing 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' in the living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-rhett/if-you-watch-home-videos-at-4-years-old-i-was-doing-nothing-but-being/) [Thomas Rhett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-rhett/) > [I was watching the Oprah show one day and she said that it's cathartic to write things down, so I started writing down the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-perry/i-was-watching-the-oprah-show-one-day-and-she-said-that-it-s/) [Tyler Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-perry/) > [I finished 'Hell or High Water' and started writing 'Wind River' literally the next day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-sheridan/i-finished-hell-or-high-water-and-started-writing-wind-river/) [Taylor Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-sheridan/) > [I just started writing for my own amusement and occasionally singing in little clubs around Los Angeles. Then I wrote 'The Rose,' and through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-mcbroom/i-just-started-writing-for-my-own-amusement-and-occasionally-singing/) [Amanda McBroom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-mcbroom/) > [When I was at UCLA, a professor there encouraged me to write, and so I looked into specializing in creative writing in the English…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-park/when-i-was-at-ucla-a-professor-there-encouraged-me-to-write-and-so-i/) [Randall Park](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-park/) > [When I first started making music, it was learning other people's songs and putting them onto four-track. Like Beatles songs and stuff. When I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-ward/when-i-first-started-making-music-it-was-learning-other-people-s/) [M. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-ward/) > [When I first started writing, when I was 15, I would go to work with people and they would tell me my lyrics were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sabrina-claudio/when-i-first-started-writing-when-i-was-15-i-would-go-to-work-with/) [Sabrina Claudio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sabrina-claudio/) ## More by Cherrie Moraga > [Spirituality which inspires activism and, similarly, politics which move the spirit - which draw from the deep-seated place of our greatest longings for freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/spirituality-which-inspires-activism-and-similarly-politics-which/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [The nationalism I seek is one that decolonizes the brown and female body as it decolonizes the brown and female earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/the-nationalism-i-seek-is-one-that-decolonizes-the-brown-and-female/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [Smell remembers and tells the future. ... Smell is home or loneliness. Confidence or betrayal. Smell remembers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/smell-remembers-and-tells-the-future-smell-is-home-or-loneliness/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [The revolution begins at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/the-revolution-begins-at-home/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [The passage is through, not over, not by, not around but through.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/the-passage-is-through-not-over-not-by-not-around-but-through/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [Sometimes a breakdown can be the beginning of a kind of breakthrough, a way of living in advance through a trauma that prepares you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/sometimes-a-breakdown-can-be-the-beginning-of-a-kind-of-breakthrough/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [To assess the damage is a dangerous act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/to-assess-the-damage-is-a-dangerous-act/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [we have let rhetoric do the job of poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/we-have-let-rhetoric-do-the-job-of-poetry/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [In 1984, I turned to theater in the hopes of finding a more direct form of communication between me and my people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/in-1984-i-turned-to-theater-in-the-hopes-of-finding-a-more-direct/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [But it is not really difference the oppressor fears so much as similarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/but-it-is-not-really-difference-the-oppressor-fears-so-much-as/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [Oppression does not make for hearts as big as all outdoors. Oppression makes us big and small. Expressive and silenced. Deep and dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/oppression-does-not-make-for-hearts-as-big-as-all-outdoors-oppression/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [A writer will write with or without a movement; but at the same time, for Chicano, lesbian, gay and feminist writers-anybody writing against the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/a-writer-will-write-with-or-without-a-movement-but-at-the-same-time/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [Third World feminism is about feeding people in all their hungers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/third-world-feminism-is-about-feeding-people-in-all-their-hungers/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [Our strategy is how we cope--how we measure and weigh what is to be said and when, what is to be done and how,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/our-strategy-is-how-we-cope-how-we-measure-and-weigh-what-is-to-be/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) > [I am the daughter of a Chicana and anglo. I think most days I am an embarrassment to both groups. I sometimes hate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherrie-moraga/i-am-the-daughter-of-a-chicana-and-anglo-i-think-most-days-i-am-an/) [Cherrie Moraga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) [Explore all 17 Cherrie Moraga quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherrie-moraga/) ## More Chicana quotes > [“We’re afraid the others will think we’re agringadas because we don’t speak Chicano Spanish. We oppress each other trying to out-Chicano each other, vying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-anzaldua/we-re-afraid-the-others-will-think-we-re-agringadas-because-we-don-t/) [Gloria Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-anzaldua/) Browse all 2 Chicana quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Fundamentally, I started writing to save my life. Yes, my own life first. 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