I think art is a healing force, and if we give in to the joy that can be found in art, then we are able to sustain ourselves in spite of ourselves.
Ntozake ShangeRead
When I die, I will no be guilty of having left a generation of girls behind thinking that anyone can tend to their emotional health other than themselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Individuals are responsible for their own emotional well-being.
This quote emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility in managing one’s emotional health. Ntozake Shange stresses that relying on others for emotional care is insufficient, and that girls, in particular, must learn to take charge of their own emotional wellbeing, empowering them to become self-sufficient and resilient.
Themes
Emotional HealthResponsibilitySelf-CareEmpowermentGirls
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech aimed at young women, this quote can be used to emphasize self-empowerment.
More from Ntozake Shange
All quotes →Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic, who can share or not share her powers. A woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of Spanish moss, this woman is a consort of the spirits.
Ntozake ShangeRead
I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I can only change how they live, not how they think.
Ntozake ShangeRead
i usedta live in the world really be in the world free & sweet talkin good mornin & thank-you & nice day uh huh i cant now i cant be nice to nobody nice is such a rip-off regular beauty & a smile in the street is just a set-up
Ntozake ShangeRead
one thing I don’t need is any more apologies i got sorry greetin me at my front door you can keep yrs i don’t know what to do wit em they don’t open doors or bring the sun back they don’t make me happy or get a mornin paper didn’t nobody stop usin my tears to wash cars cuz a sorry.
Ntozake ShangeRead
The slaves who were ourselves had known terror intimately, confused sunrise with pain, & accepted indifference as kindness.
Ntozake ShangeRead
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And this is a grave responsibility, projected from within each of us, not to settle for the convenient, the shoddy, the conventionally expected, nor the merely safe.
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