Quote

I wrote myself back together. I wrote myself toward a stronger version of myself . . . Through writing and feminism, I also found that if I was a little bit brave, another woman might hear me and see me and recognize that none of us are the nothing the world tries to tell us we are.

Roxane Gay

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Roxane Gay
Age: 49
Born: 1974
Born: October 15
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Scrabble Player
Writer
Omaha
Nebraska
Little
Woman
Wrote
Might
Tell
Recognize
Nothing
Found
Brave
Writing
Another
None
Trying
Also
Stronger
Tries
World
Together
Toward
Version
Littles
Bits
Feminism
Back
Hear
Versions

More quotes by Roxane Gay

Image
Good fiction challenges us as much as it entertains and these days, we could do with both of these things.
Roxane Gay
Image
Somewhere along the line we started misinterpreting the First Amendment and this idea of the freedom of speech the amendment grants us. We are free to speak as we choose without fear of prosecution or persecution, but we are not free to speak as we choose without consequence.
Roxane Gay
Image
Some women being empowered does not prove the patriarchy is dead. It proves that some of us are lucky.
Roxane Gay
Image
When I write on Twitter, I do other things: I'm working, grading, or reading, and I'm procrastinating, and I'll pop on Twitter and be like, Hey, what's up? Yogurt's delicious.
Roxane Gay
Image
Books are often far more than just books.
Roxane Gay
Image
I approach most things in life with a dangerous level of confidence to balance my generally low self-esteem.
Roxane Gay
Image
The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating.
Roxane Gay
Image
I probably write the same story a hundred different ways. I suppose right now I am looking for the 101st different way to write that same story. And the 102nd, and 103rd and 111th and 133rd.
Roxane Gay
Image
Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about.
Roxane Gay
Image
You don't necessarily have to do anything once you acknowledge your privilege. You don't have to apologize for it. You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about.
Roxane Gay
Image
If I cannot rest and relax, all the work I do is for naught.
Roxane Gay
Image
We need to stop playing Privilege or Oppression Olympics because we'll never get anywhere until we find more effective ways of talking through difference. We should be able to say, “This is my truth,” and have that truth stand without a hundred clamoring voices shouting, giving the impression that multiple truths cannot coexist.
Roxane Gay
Image
I read constantly because there is so much to learn from the writing in the world.
Roxane Gay
Image
I see my tweets as a current joining a bunch of other currents in the world's craziest ocean.
Roxane Gay
Image
I am interested in intense, unbreakable emotional connections and oftentimes, such connections can be found between siblings.
Roxane Gay
Image
When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.
Roxane Gay
Image
My fiction is a very accurate reflection of the world we live in. Certainly, in some stories, that reflection is amplified but America elected a man who enjoys grabbing women by their pussies.
Roxane Gay
Image
Violence is a common part of far too many women's lives.
Roxane Gay
Image
We don't all have to believe in the same feminism. Feminism can be pluralistic so long as we respect the different feminisms we carry with us, so long as we give enough of a damn to try to minimize the fractures among us. Feminism will better succeed with collective effort, but feminist success can also rise out of personal conduct.
Roxane Gay
Image
I would like to believe that most people, regardless of gender, are good and kind. The good men in my stories are the rule. It's the bad men that are the exception and because I tend toward the dark in my fiction, you see more of the exception than the rule.
Roxane Gay