Quotes About Resilience

I do not feel inhibited or bound by what I am. That does not mean that I have never had bad scenes relating to being Black and/or a woman, it means that other people's craziness has not managed to make me crazy.

You are the one I am lit for. Come with your rod that twists and is a serpent. I am the bush. I am burning I am not consumed.

i am rejuvenated bones rising from the dear floor where they found you

come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.

you have your own story you know about the fears the tears the scar of disbelief you know that the saddest lies are the ones we tell ourselves you know how dangerous it is to be born with breasts you know how dangerous it is to wear dark skin

may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back may you open your eyes to water water waving forever and may you in your innocence sail through this to that — Lucille Clifton, "blessing the boats," Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 . (BOA Editions Ltd. April 1, 2000)

and we hang onto our no place happy to be alive and in the inner city or like we call it home

And I could tell you about things we been through, some awful ones, some wonderful, but I know that the things that make us are more than that, our lives are more than the days in them, our lives are our line and we go on. I type that and I swear I can see Ca'line standing in the green of Virginia, in the green of Afrika, and I swear she makes no sound but she nods her head and smiles.

I closed my eyes, put blinders on, and ignored what was too painful to think about. I tried to view my troubles less seriously, and worry less. I tried to curb my temper. Things said in embarrassment and anger are seldom the truth, but are said to hurt and wound the other person. Once said, they can never be taken back.

My ideal of womanhood has always been the pioneer woman who fought and worked at her husband's side. She bore the children, kept the home fires burning; she was the hub of the family, the planner and the dreamer.

It doesn't hurt to be optimistic. You can always cry later.

I'm not just a doormat. I'm not just being stepped on all over the place. If you look at the bulk of my material, it's about trying to find some strength through that.

Just because I'm talking about something that might have been a sad or painful situation doesn't mean that I'm sad or tortured 24 hours a day any more than anybody else is.

There's so many other things to write about than unrequited love.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.

I was shipwrecked before I got aboard.

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

A great step towards independence is a good-humored stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment.

A great pilot can sail even when his canvas is rent.

We are more often frightened than hurt and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.