Naomi Shihab Nye Quotes
During the Gulf War, I remember two little third grade girls saying to me - after I read them some poems by writers in Iraq - 'You know, we never thought about there being children in Iraq before.' And I thought, 'Well those poems did their job, because now they'll think about everything a little bit differently.'
Quotes to Explore
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In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob.
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There is no question that chemical weapons attacks are a heinous abuse of humanity and power. But to assume that military strikes are an effective retribution for the crime committed is wrong.
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I am born and raised in the Bronx. Where I grew up, it is a really working-class neighborhood and it does give you a really good work ethic.
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I try not to picture a reader when I'm writing. It's like trying to make a great table but not picturing anybody sitting at it.
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I can't keep secrets about myself. I can keep secrets about other people, but if it's about myself, I'm like, 'blah blah blah blah.'
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Balance is key in cooking - you want a little acid, a little sweet, a little savory - the flavors should be harmonious.
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If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that's a wonderful thing.
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There was a time I desperately needed for the world to know that I was no category guy. My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
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We have to still develop the Ikea group. We need many billions of Swiss francs to take on China or Russia.
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I'm neither a millennial nor a hipster.
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Things that came before, people and things and experiences – that does mean something to me. It doesn't mean I don't embrace the new, but I don't forget the past, either.
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I don't have time to listen to anybody's music. I'm making it, you know.
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The fidelity question is difficult for me. Society has made us believe we're supposed to be monogamous when we're not killer whales, or whatever the monogamous species is.
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Once we understand just how to control genes, we have the potential for spinal cord regeneration, bone regeneration, and so on. It might also give us plumper chickens.
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All art is exorcism. I paint dreams and visions too; the dreams and visions of my time. Painting is the effort to produce order; order in yourself. There is much chaos in me, much chaos in our time.
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Curiosity does, no less than devotion, pilgrims make.
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Educators shouldn't be afraid of cliches. You know why? Because kids don't know most of them! They're a new audience. And they're inspired by cliches.
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Rarely do we stop and consider whether the most prestigious of institutions is always in our best interest.
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I want to get into the educational DNA of American culture. I want 10 percent of the common culture, more or less, to be black.
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I really remember John Lennon's Imagine. I guess I'm twelve; that's one of my first albums. That really set fire to me. It was like he was whispering in your ear - his ideas of what's possible. Different ways of seeing the world.
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During the Gulf War, I remember two little third grade girls saying to me - after I read them some poems by writers in Iraq - 'You know, we never thought about there being children in Iraq before.' And I thought, 'Well those poems did their job, because now they'll think about everything a little bit differently.'
