as females in a patriarchal culture, we were not slaves of love; most of us were and are slaves of longing-- yearning for a master who will set us free and claim us because we cannot claim ourselves Bell Hooks More Quotes by Bell Hooks More Quotes From Bell Hooks There is light in darkness, you just have to find it. Bell Hooks lightdarkness If we want a beloved community, we must stand for justice. Bell Hooks beloved-communitywantjustice 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 accountabilityresponsibilitythinking It is important and vital is to keep that education for critical consciousness around intersectionalities, so that people are able to not focus on one thing and blame one group, but be able to look holistically at the way intersectionality informs all of us: whiteness, gender, sexual preferences, etc. Only then can we have a realistic handle on the political and cultural world we live within. Bell Hooks politicalfocuspeople Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust. Bell Hooks responsibilitylove-iscommitment How different things might be if, rather than saying "I think I'm in love," we were saying "I've connected with someone in a way that makes me think I'm on the way to knowing love." Or if instead of saying "I am in love" we say "I am loving" or "I will love." Our patterns around romantic love are unlikely to change if we do not change our language. Bell Hooks knowing-loveromantic-lovethinking Genuine love is rarely an emotional space where needs are instantly gratified. To know love we have to invest time and commitment...'dreaming that love will save us, solve all our problems or provide a steady state of bliss or security only keeps us stuck in wishful fantasy, undermining the real power of the love -- which is to transform us.' Many people want love to function like a drug, giving them an immediate and sustained high. They want to do nothing, just passively receive the good feeling. Bell Hooks realdreamcommitment Since loving is about knowing, we have more meaningful love relationships when we know each other and it takes time to know each other. Bell Hooks love-relationshipknowingmeaningful All too often we think of community in terms of being with folks like ourselves: the same class, same race, same ethnicity, same social standing and the like..I think we need to be wary: we need to work against the danger of evoking something that we don’t challenge ourselves to actually practice. Bell Hooks ethnicityracethinking All too often women believe it is a sign of commitment, an expression of love, to endure unkindness or cruelty, to forgive and forget. In actuality, when we love rightly we know that the healthy, loving response to cruelty and abuse is putting ourselves out of harm's way. Bell Hooks expressionbelievecommitment In 2014, when Hillary Clinton was not yet running for president, I stated that I was not in agreement with her politics. More recently, when asked my thoughts about Hillary Clinton during a public conversation with Gloria Steinem, I stated, "she embodies the very best of imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't vote for her." Bell Hooks agreementrunningmean The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control. Bell Hooks painhurtloss No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women. Bell Hooks whitemenamerica I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance. Bell Hooks perseverancesuccesshappiness Without justice there can be no love. Bell Hooks no-lovejustice America is a country that would rather talk about race than class. Bell Hooks racecountryamerica When we drop fear, we can draw nearer to people, we can draw nearer to the earth, we can draw nearer to all the heavenly creatures that surround us. Bell Hooks perseverancesuccesshappiness Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where females and males are not alike or even always equal, but where a vision of mutuality is the ethos shaping our interaction. Bell Hooks ethosmalesvision The most basic activism we can have in our lives is to live consciously in a nation living in fantasies. Living consciously is living with a core of healthy self-esteem. You will face reality, you will not delude yourself. Bell Hooks healthyself-esteemreality When men and women punish each other for truth telling, we reinforce the notion that lies are better. Bell Hooks telling-the-truthmenlying
