Quote

It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.

Warsan Shire

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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Purpose
Beautiful
Find
Shire
Desirable
Feminism
Responsibility
Alive
Existence

More quotes by Warsan Shire

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I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
Warsan Shire
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There is no intimacy like that between two women who have chosen to be sisters.
Warsan Shire
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My name is indigenous to my country, it is not easy to pronounce, it takes effort to say correctly and I am absolutely in love with the sound of it and its meaning. Also, it's not the kind of name you baby, slip into sweet talk mid sentence, late night phone conversation, whisper into the receiver kind of name, so, of that I am glad.
Warsan Shire
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Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women, kitchen of love, bedroom of grief, bathroom of apathy. Sometimes, the men, they come with keys, and sometimes the men, they come with hammers.
Warsan Shire
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I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes on my face they are still together.
Warsan Shire
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We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there.
Warsan Shire
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Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself - what you're wearing, who you're around, what you're doing. Recreate and repeat.
Warsan Shire
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I tend to the wound so often, it never heals.
Warsan Shire
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I’m overwhelmed. My biggest downfall is my brightest blessing, I feel too much, all the time. Ya Allah, if it’ll keep my heart soft, break my heart every day.
Warsan Shire
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Don't assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don't say anything you can't stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.
Warsan Shire
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How far have you walked for men who've never held your feet in their laps?
Warsan Shire
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Every mouth you’ve ever kissed was just practice. All the bodies you’ve ever undressed and ploughed in to were preparing you for me. I don’t mind tasting them in the memory of your mouth. Was it a long journey? Did it take you long to find me? You’re here now, welcome home.
Warsan Shire
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You can't make homes out of human beings.
Warsan Shire
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To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’
Warsan Shire
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And you tried to change, didn't you? Closed your mouth more. Tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake... You can't make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that. And if he wants to leave, then let him leave. You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
Warsan Shire
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I belong deeply to myself.
Warsan Shire
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Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
Warsan Shire
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I think in Somali, I cuss in Somali, when I'm afraid I reach for somali and this language is very rich, very filling. It's an unflinching language the crudest most terrible things sound perfectly normal in Somali.
Warsan Shire
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Two people who were once very close can without blame or grand betrayal become strangers. Perhaps this is the saddest thing in the world.
Warsan Shire
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The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to the rest who do.
Warsan Shire