Quote

Apathy is the same as war, it all kills you, she says. Slow like cancer in the breast or fast like a machete in the neck.

Warsan Shire

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Says
Breast
War
Kills
Like
Neck
Necks
Breasts
Slow
Machete
Cancer
Machetes
Fast
Apathy

More quotes by Warsan Shire

Image
You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
Warsan Shire
Image
I tend to the wound so often, it never heals.
Warsan Shire
Image
Sad people have the gift of time, while the world dizzies everyone else they remain stagnant, their bodies refusing to follow pace with the universe. With these kind of people everything aches for too long, everything moves without rush, wounds are always wet.
Warsan Shire
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Make love like you have no secrets like you've never been left never been hurt like the world don't owe you a single wretched thing.
Warsan Shire
Image
I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes on my face they are still together.
Warsan Shire
Image
I want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
Warsan Shire
Image
I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
Warsan Shire
Image
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
Image
To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’
Warsan Shire
Image
Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
Warsan Shire
Image
I belong deeply to myself.
Warsan Shire
Image
You can't make homes out of human beings.
Warsan Shire
Image
Make peace with your body, it's not manmade, there are no flaws, there are no mistakes.
Warsan Shire
Image
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
Image
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
Image
I won't glorify or romanticise heartbreak, for me it was a kind of death and I was forced to keep living.
Warsan Shire
Image
Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of the tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn't allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.
Warsan Shire
Image
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