Quotes from Ani DiFranco

Because the world owes me nothing, and we owe each other the world.

Get ready: The truth is too valuable to put safety first. Get set: No amount of exposure is unbearable unless you let it be. Go: If you get caught with your pants down, take 'em off.

I found I generally preferred the old leftie, radical-activist types who stood charmingly and unfashionably on the side of substance.

Yes! Art is a conversation!

That trip to The City could not have lasted more than a few days, but because my universe exploded and was expanding at such a rapid speed, time stood still. Each experience imprinted itself on me like it would a newborn child. When I came home I think I called my mother and told her I was moving to New York and I think she said something to the effect of, "I trust your judgment." It took me a few years, but eventually, that's exactly what I did.

To put it opinionatedly, strumming an acoustic guitar is akin to scratching on the surface of a drum: antithetical to its nature.

long before medical science came along to offer any compensation for the entrapments of the modern social design. When a woman chooses whether or not to reproduce, the earth itself is choosing. With or without confirmation from man, this is the reality that the earth lives every day.

the deep deficiency of perception created by patriarchy. Only in a world so thoroughly immersed in patriarchy would this whole farce of enforced reproduction (or enforced sterilization) even be possible. Men dictating to women when and how they shall give birth is treason.

opinion and perception and to be allowed to live and express those perceptions is at the supposed core of the American state. Reproductive freedom must be understood as a civil right.

and becomes that dragonfly, that mountain, that happy, cherished baby right there. Trust women and fear not. All of consciousness is manifesting, no matter who gives birth to what.

I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.

The stronger I am in my personal life, the more energy I have to look outward, to address my society.

Patriarchy is a fundamental imbalance underlying society And it's one we rarely address because it's so universal. But as I get older, I see that peace is a product of balance.

People need something or someone to fasten themselves to in order to reassure themselves that they are real.

Either you are a feminist or you are a sexist/misogynist. There is no box marked 'other.'

Actually I don't know if honesty is a strength or some kind of weakness.

You've got your whole life to do something, And that's not very long. So why don't you give me a call When you're willing to fight For what you think is real, For what you think is right.

And if there's anything I do it's change and grow. I'm just a living being. Every year of my life I seem to learn that everything I know is wrong.

Life is a sleazy stranger, who looks vaguely familiar; flirting with a bimbo named disaster at the end of the bar.

I see a lot of connections between folk and punk music just because they're both subcorporate music - I mean, traditionally.

I really have been enjoying performing more lately than I have in a long time and you know, it's all about that sort of centered feeling that I have now. You know, thanks to, not just my kid, but her father before her. You know, I have a kind of a grounding through them that I really relish, and I think is also good for my work, you know.

Art is the reason I get up in the morning, but the definition ends there. It doesn't seem fair that I'm living for something I can't even define.

You broke me bodily. The heart ain't the half of it, And I'll never learn to laugh at it In my good natured way. In fact, I'm laughing less in general, But I learned a lot at my own funeral. And I knew you'd be the death of me, So I guess that's the price I pay.

I don't need anyone to hold me, I can hold my own.