Quotes About Bell hooks

The political core of any movement for freedom in the society has to have the political imperative to protect free speech.

One of the most subversive institutions in the United States is the public library..

Many of us learned that passivity lessened the possibility of attack.

She wanted me to remember that pleasure is political--for the capacity to relax and play renews the spirit and makes it possible for us to come to the work of writing clearer, ready for the journey. (bell hooks about Toni Cade Bambara)

Indeed, all the great movements for social justice in our society have strongly emphasized a love ethic.

As long as females take up the banner of feminist politics without addressing and transforming their own sexism, ultimately the movement will be undermined.

We must live by the fundamental, dialectical principle that progress comes only from struggling to resolve contradictions.

Many of our nation's citizens are afraid to embrace an ethics of compassion because it threatens their security.

Freedom (and by that term I do not mean to evoke some wishy-washy hang-loose do-as-you-like world) as positive social equality that grants all humans the opportunity to shape their destinies in the most healthy and communally productive way can only be a complete reality when our world is no longer racist or sexist.

Phobic fear is not a solution to the problem of sexual exploitation or rape. It is a symptom.

Kindlon and Thompson carefully depoliticize their language. Their use of the word "tradition" belies the reality that the patriarchal culture which has socialized almost everyone in our nation to dismiss the emotional life of boys is an entrenched social and political system.

However feminist women in the West are still struggling to decolonize feminist thinking and practice so that these issues can be addressed in a manner that does not reinscribe Western imperialism.

If our society had a commonly held understanding of the meaning of love, the act of loving would not be so mystifying.

Women, more so than men, rush out to purchase this literature. We do so because collectively we are concerned about lovelessness.

One cannot love, an image, a dead likeness, it will never give back, the real you, or let you see, the inside heart. When Angels Speak of LOVE-Poem 25

Some heterosexual women decided that they would choose celibacy or lesbianism over seeking after unequal relationships with sexist men.

Yes, it's true. Few intellectuals fuse intellectual power with deep moral concern and political engagement. Edward Said is somebody that comes to mind, but for every Edward Said there are one hundred and fifty academicians who, albeit interesting and competent, are narrow. So it follows that for every bell hooks there are one hundred and fifty academics threatened by your poly-vocality.

To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility. — BELL HOOKS1 While

To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility. —BELL HOOKS

It is a distortion of the notion of romantic love to want to see obedience as the quintessential expression of respect.

The political core of any movement for freedom in the society has to have the political imperative to protect free speech.

All the work I do is built on a foundation of loving-kindness. Love illuminates matters.

If anything I think postmodernism has the least impact on my work.

To the extent that we live in a postmodern world and it shapes the concrete circumstances of our daily lives, I would say postmodernism affects my work or influences my work.