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June Jordan Quotes

If you are free, you are not predicatable and you are not controllable Picture Quote #1

Our children will not survive our habits of thinking, our failures of the spirit, our wreck of the universe into which we bring new life as blithely as we do. Mostly, our children will resemble our own misery and spite and anger, because we give them no choice about it. In the name of motherhood and fatherhood and education and good manners, we threaten and suffocate and bind and ensnare and bribe and trick children into wholesale emulation of our ways Picture Quote #1

Americans have begun to understand that trouble does not start somewhere on the other side of town. It seems to originate inside the absolute middle of the homemade cherry pie Picture Quote #1

As I am a poet I express what I believe, and I fight against whatever I oppose, in poetry Picture Quote #1

I think I have come to a place where I’m able to feel more comfortable about being honest Picture Quote #1

Consequently, most of us really exist at the mercy of other people’s formulations of what’s important Picture Quote #1

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Bisexuality means I am free and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn’t that what freedom implies? Picture Quote #1

There are two ways to worry words. One is hoping for the greatest possible beauty in what is created. The other is to tell the truth Picture Quote #1

The first function of poetry is to tell the truth, to learn how to do that, to find out what you really feel and what you really think Picture Quote #1

That attitude that fighting is probably not fair, but you have to defend yourself anyway and damage the enemy, has been profoundly consequential as far as my political activism goes Picture Quote #1

The courts cannot garnish a father's salary, nor freeze his account, nor seize his property on behalf of his children, in our society. Apparently this is because a kid is not a car or a couch or a boat Picture Quote #1

So, poetry becomes a means for useful dialogue between people who are not only unknown, but mute to each other. It produces a dialogue among people that guards all of us against manipulation by our so called leaders Picture Quote #1

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To rescue our children we will have to let them save us from the power we embody: we will have to trust the very difference that they forever personify. And we will have to allow them the choice, without fear of death: that they may come and do likewise or that they may come and that we will follow them, that a little child will lead us back to the child we will always be, vulnerable and wanting and hurting for love and for beauty Picture Quote #1

The purpose of polite behavior is never virtuous. Deceit, surrender, and concealment these are not virtues. The goal of the mannerly is comfort, per se Picture Quote #1

Our earth is round, and, among other things, that means that you and I can hold completely different points of view and both be right. The difference of our positions will show stars in your window I cannot even imagine. Your sky may burn with light, while mine, at the same moment, spreads beautiful to darkness. Still we must choose how we separately corner the circling universe of our experience. Once chosen, our cornering will determine the message of any star and darkness we encounter Picture Quote #1

In the name of motherhood and fatherhood and education and good manners, we threaten and suffocate and bind and ensnare and bribe and trick children into wholesale emulation of our ways Picture Quote #1

Let me just say, at once: I am not now nor have I ever been a white man. And, leaving aside the joys of unearned privilege, this leaves me feeling pretty good Picture Quote #1

Like running trying to live a good life has to hurt a little bit, or we’re not running hard enough, not really trying Picture Quote #1

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A democratic state is not proven by the welfare of the strong but by the welfare of the weak Picture Quote #1

The thing about genius is it will never yield to circumstances. Genius regards what’s given as the beginning of its need to find or devise something else Picture Quote #1

... if your heart and your honest body can be controlled by the state, or controlled by community taboo, are you not then, and in that case, no more than a slave ruled by outside force? What tyranny could exceed a tyranny that dictates to the human heart, and that attempts to dictate the public career of an honest human body? Picture Quote #1

Reproductive choice is not some trendy item to toss or keep around the house. If you cannot get an education or a job, if you cannot choose what will or will not happen with your own body, then what freedom do you have? Picture Quote #1

That a little child will lead us back to the child we will always be, vulnerable and wanting and hurting for love and for beauty Picture Quote #1

And who will join this standing up and the ones who stood without sweet company will sing and sing back into the mountains and if necessary even under the sea: we are the ones we have been waiting for Picture Quote #1

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I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self respect Picture Quote #1

Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

If you are free, you are not predicatable and you are not controllable (June Jordan Quotes) Our children will not survive our habits of thinking, our failures of the spirit, our wreck of the universe into which we bring new life as blithely as we do. Mostly, our children will resemble our own misery and spite and anger, because we give them no choice about it. In the name of motherhood and fatherhood and education and good manners, we threaten and suffocate and bind and ensnare and bribe and trick children into wholesale emulation of our ways (June Jordan Quotes) Americans have begun to understand that trouble does not start somewhere on the other side of town. It seems to originate inside the absolute middle of the homemade cherry pie (June Jordan Quotes) As I am a poet I express what I believe, and I fight against whatever I oppose, in poetry (June Jordan Quotes) I think I have come to a place where I’m able to feel more comfortable about being honest (June Jordan Quotes) Consequently, most of us really exist at the mercy of other people’s formulations of what’s important (June Jordan Quotes) Bisexuality means I am free and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn’t that what freedom implies? (June Jordan Quotes) There are two ways to worry words. One is hoping for the greatest possible beauty in what is created. The other is to tell the truth (June Jordan Quotes) The first function of poetry is to tell the truth, to learn how to do that, to find out what you really feel and what you really think (June Jordan Quotes) That attitude that fighting is probably not fair, but you have to defend yourself anyway and damage the enemy, has been profoundly consequential as far as my political activism goes (June Jordan Quotes) The courts cannot garnish a father's salary, nor freeze his account, nor seize his property on behalf of his children, in our society. Apparently this is because a kid is not a car or a couch or a boat (June Jordan Quotes) So, poetry becomes a means for useful dialogue between people who are not only unknown, but mute to each other. It produces a dialogue among people that guards all of us against manipulation by our so called leaders (June Jordan Quotes) To rescue our children we will have to let them save us from the power we embody: we will have to trust the very difference that they forever personify. And we will have to allow them the choice, without fear of death: that they may come and do likewise or that they may come and that we will follow them, that a little child will lead us back to the child we will always be, vulnerable and wanting and hurting for love and for beauty (June Jordan Quotes) The purpose of polite behavior is never virtuous. Deceit, surrender, and concealment these are not virtues. The goal of the mannerly is comfort, per se (June Jordan Quotes) Our earth is round, and, among other things, that means that you and I can hold completely different points of view and both be right. The difference of our positions will show stars in your window I cannot even imagine. Your sky may burn with light, while mine, at the same moment, spreads beautiful to darkness. Still we must choose how we separately corner the circling universe of our experience. Once chosen, our cornering will determine the message of any star and darkness we encounter (June Jordan Quotes) In the name of motherhood and fatherhood and education and good manners, we threaten and suffocate and bind and ensnare and bribe and trick children into wholesale emulation of our ways (June Jordan Quotes) Let me just say, at once: I am not now nor have I ever been a white man. And, leaving aside the joys of unearned privilege, this leaves me feeling pretty good (June Jordan Quotes) Like running trying to live a good life has to hurt a little bit, or we’re not running hard enough, not really trying (June Jordan Quotes) A democratic state is not proven by the welfare of the strong but by the welfare of the weak (June Jordan Quotes) The thing about genius is it will never yield to circumstances. Genius regards what’s given as the beginning of its need to find or devise something else (June Jordan Quotes) ... if your heart and your honest body can be controlled by the state, or controlled by community taboo, are you not then, and in that case, no more than a slave ruled by outside force? What tyranny could exceed a tyranny that dictates to the human heart, and that attempts to dictate the public career of an honest human body? (June Jordan Quotes) Reproductive choice is not some trendy item to toss or keep around the house. If you cannot get an education or a job, if you cannot choose what will or will not happen with your own body, then what freedom do you have? (June Jordan Quotes) That a little child will lead us back to the child we will always be, vulnerable and wanting and hurting for love and for beauty (June Jordan Quotes) And who will join this standing up and the ones who stood without sweet company will sing and sing back into the mountains and if necessary even under the sea: we are the ones we have been waiting for (June Jordan Quotes) I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self respect (June Jordan Quotes) Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies (June Jordan Quotes)

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