Alice Walker
Well, sometime Mr —— git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways. You ought to bash Mr —— head open, she say. Think bout heaven later.Collection: Husband
Books became my world because the world I was in was very hard.Collection: Book
I'm the kind of woman that likes to enjoy herselves in peace.Collection: Self
What did it mean for a black woman to be an artist in our grandmothers' time? In our great-grandmothers' day? It is an answer cruel enough to stop the blood.Collection: Mean
Only dead people need loud music, you know.Collection: Music
Abortion is an act of self-defense.Collection: Self
HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world.Collection: Prayer
If she come, I be happy. If she don't, I be content.Collection: Ifs
I'm always amazed that people will actually choose to sit in front of the television and just be savaged by stuff that belittles their intelligence.Collection: People
I have a lot of faith in us. I have a lot of faith in humanity. It's based, though, on my own life; I've come too far to be a pessimist.Collection: Humanity
I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way...I can't apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to... We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful...We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.Collection: Successful
HELPED are those who laugh with a pure heart; theirs will be the company of the jolly righteous.Collection: Heart
Not everyone's life is what they make it. Some people's life is what other people make it.Collection: People
When the ax came into the forest the trees said the handle is one of us.Collection: Funny
In each of us, there is a little voice that knows exactly which way to go. And I learned very early to listen to it, even though it has caused so much grief and havoc, and I think that is the only answer.Collection: Grief
It has become a common feeling, I believe, as we have watched our heroes falling over the years, that our own small stone of activism, which might not seem to measure up to the rugged boulders of heroism we have so admired, is a paltry offering toward the building of an edifice of hope. Many who believe this choose to withhold their offerings out of shame. This is the tragedy of the world. For we can do nothing substantial toward changing our course on the planet, a destructive one, without rousing ourselves, individual by individual, and bringing our small, imperfect stones to the pile.Collection: Believe
Hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof.Collection: Hard Times
We are all substantially flawed, wounded, angry, hurt, here on Earth. But this human condition, so painful to us, and in someways shameful- because we feel we are weak when the reality of ourselves is exposed- is made much more bearable when it is shared, face to face, in words that have expressive human eyes behind them.Collection: Hurt
You have to steal back yourself. You have to steal back your own mind. Meditation helps in that area.Collection: Meditation
Writing about people helps us to understand them, and understanding them helps us to accept them as part of ourselves.Collection: Writing
The artist...is the voice of the people.Collection: Inspirational
Helped are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.Collection: Discovery
If I could live as a tree, as a river, as the moon, as the sun, as a star, as the earth, as a rock, I would. ...Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.Collection: Stars
It's so important to unclutter the mind. For me, creativity is greatly impeded just by the chatter and visual clutter of life. It's really important to have a space that is really clear for whatever is emerging to come.Collection: Creativity
I'm mad about the waste that happens when people who love each other can't even bring themselves to talk.Collection: People
People who work hard often work too hard. ... May we learn to honor the hammock, the siesta, the nap and the pause in all its forms.Collection: Work
Human compassion is equal to human cruelty, and it is up to each of us to tip the balance.Collection: Compassion
When life descends into the pit I must become my own candle Willingly burning my self To light up the darkness around me.Collection: Light
The nature of this flower is to bloom.Collection: Flower
Surely the earth can be saved by all the people who insist on love.Collection: People
Be an outcast. Be pleased to walk alone.Collection: Outcast
Anything we love can be saved.Collection: Saved
Wherever I have knocked, a door has opened. Wherever I have wandered, a path has appeared.Collection: Gratitude
Every soul is to be cherished, every flower is to bloom.Collection: Flower
If you want to have a life that is worth living, a life that expresses your deepest feelings and emotions, and cares and dreams, you have to fight for it.Collection: Dream
Even as I hold you, I am letting you go.Collection: Saying Goodbye
A burnt finger remember the fire.Collection: Fire
Healing cannot be done by settling a score.Collection: Healing
No matter how hidden the cruelty, no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror, we live in one world. We are one people.Collection: Pain
Love is big; love can hold anger, love can even hold hatred. It's about the intention of what you want it to do.Collection: Love Is
It just seems clear to me that as long as we are all here, it's pretty clear that the struggle is to share the planet, rather than divide it.Collection: Peace
Whenever I have knocked, a door has opened. Wherever I have wandered, a path has appeared. I have been helped, supported, encouraged and nurtured by people of all races, creeds, colors and dreams.Collection: Dream
Decide that you know what you think is good for you and go ahead and do it.Collection: Thinking
Love yourself. Just love yourself. In fact, the love of the self cures every kind of problem you have with yourself. For instance, if someone calls you nappy-headed, it rolls right off your body, if you love nappy hair. Or if someone calls you buck-toothed or too black, that won't be a problem if you love being buck-toothed or black. If you love it, then so what. The development of self-love cures many of the ills that people suffer from.Collection: Love You
Criticism is painful when it's not done with love.Collection: Criticism
Be compassionate to everyone. Don't just search for whatever it is that annoys and frightens you-see beyond those things to the basic human being. Especially see the child in the man or woman. Even if they are destroying you, allow a moment to see how lost in their own delusion and suffering they are.Collection: Inspiring
War will stop when we no longer praise it, or give it any attention at all. Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited.Collection: Peace
No song or poem will bear my mother's name. Yet so many of the stories that I write, that we all write, are my mother's stories.Collection: Mother