Quotes from Naomi Shihab Nye

I don't know if my father can hear me. But it is important to pretend he can./ My sanity rests in that. The man he was can hear the daughter I am.

There are people we have never seen who are busy thinking up things we should be worried about.

We will take this word in our arms. It will be small and breathing. We will not wish to scare it. Pressing lips to the edge of each syllable. Nothing else will save us now. The word "together" wants to live in every house.

Remind us again, brave friend. What countries may we sing into? What lines should we all be crossing?

Thank you, lives we did not lead, might like to lead, might still lead.

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.

There are many things Rainey does not understand: war, and running with the bulls, for two examples. Why get anywhere near herds of bulls and irritate them in the first place? Why is this popular? She would prefer to be liked by bulls--to meet them in a placid zone and stare at one another.

I thought about enduring. Maybe losers get to be taken care of! The truth is we were so wronged and so forgotten we had to become heroes to survive at all.

Silence waits for truth to break it

Love means you breathe in two countries.

rounded shoulders, the shoulders of women no one has touched for a long time. Men

She stood on the roof, tears on her face. What was the thing she never gave up? The simple love of her difficult place.

That's how I feel about my life. I like to skirt the edges. There it is in the field. Feeding itself.

One day soon it will stumble up the walk and knock, knock hard, and you will have to answer the door.

Please describe how you became a writer. Possibly I began writing as a refuge from our insulting first grade textbook. Come, Jane, come. Look, Dick, look. Were there ever duller people in the world? You had to tell them to look at things? Whey weren't they looking to begin with?

The sea, the sky, the air see us as trouble.   They're right of course. We see each other as the landmarks of a day.   History doesn't see us. It doesn't see us at all.   From this we should draw one ounce of relief. At

What happens to Peace when people fight? (She hides her face.) What does she dream of? (Better people.) Does she ever give up?

The Christian School has a team called the Warriors--WELCOME BACK WARRIORS! shouts the banner over the road. But the billboard in front of the school says the Trait for the Week is peace. Victor feels alarmed about entering such a facility. He may come out confused. He may emerge wearing a black armband, carrying a spear.

Any of them could have a disaster before the school year is over. You could have a disaster an hour from now. Bending over. Something could hit you. People carry guns in glove compartments and lunch boxes. Cars spin out of control in minor drizzle. The more you know, really, the more you have to worry and fret about. It's a miracle anyone can sleep at all.

It's dangerous talking for Jesus. You get carried away almost immediately.

You will be sent home. Lula loved being sent home. Her favorite books were there.

Hair, pulled back or braided. Maybe it was time for a big trim. At certain points things weighed you down.

She was thinking about prejudice, how it might begin so simply-- they come from elsewhere, they don't look the way I do. Why did people want to match? And here they were in the great multicultural city of the first African-American but also half-white U.S. president in history.

So many people saying, Let's improve these problems right now! Except extremists. Extremists never wanted things to improve. They just wanted to win. They needed psychiatrists.