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Famous Amanda Gorman Quotes

“At the age of 18 I know my color is not warning, but a welcome. A girl of color is a lighthouse, an ultraviolet ray of power, potential, and promise My color does not mean caution, it means courage my dark does not mean danger, it means daring, my brown does not mean broken, it means bold backbone from working twice as hard to get half as far. Being a girl of color means I am key, path, and wonder all in one body.”

Poetry Power Courage Poem Girls Black Women African Americans Blacks African American Women

Author:Amanda Gorman

“At the age of 12 I blinked in the majesty of the color within myself, blinded by the knowledge that a skinny black girl, a young brown teen, has the power to light Los Angeles all night, the radiance to heal all the scars left on this city's pavement.”

Poetry Women Power Poem Girls Black Women African Americans Blacks Radiance African American Women

Author:Amanda Gorman

“The truth is, we are one nation, under fraud. Tell us, honestly: Will we ever be who we say.”

America Poetry United States Honesty Poem Usa United States Of America Us

Book:Call Us What We Carry: Poems

Source: Call Us What We Carry: Poems

“The densest despair takes Us to no ordinary joy. Sometimes diving Into the deep inside us Is the only way We rise above it.”

Joy Poetry Change Poem Despair

Book:Call Us What We Carry: Poems

Source: Call Us What We Carry: Poems

“Our country, which we do not forsake for being un-great, that we should find by being good.”

America Poetry United States Greatness Poem Goodness Usa United States Of America Us

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“But the point of protest isn't winning; It's holding fast to the promise of freedom, Even when fast victory is not promised.”

Poetry Winning Freedom Victory Poem Patience Protest

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“Perhaps to burn is the most basic Purification there is. Time said: You must transform to survive. We said: Not over our dead body. What can we call a country that destroys Itself just because it can? A nation that would char Rather than change? Our only word for this is Home.”

Home America Poetry Change Poem Burning Surviving Transforming Purification Charring

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“Because being American is more than a pride we inherit-- It's the past we step into, and how we repair it.”

Past Poetry Change Pride Poem Patriotism Americans

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“That's what only words can do-- Prod us toward something new & in doing so, move us closer -> together.”

Poetry Language Change Poem Words Intimacy Novelty Closeness Newness

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“Every second, what we feel For our people & our planet Almost brings us to our knees, A compassion that nearly destroys Us with its massiveness. There is no love for or in this world That doesn't feel both bright & unbearable, Uncarriable.”

Love Feelings Poetry Compassion Poem Unbearableness

Book:Call Us What We Carry: Poems

Source: Call Us What We Carry: Poems

“The hardest part of grief Is giving it a name. The pain pulls us apart, Like lips about to speak. Without language nothing can live At all, let alone Beyond itself. Lost as we feel, there is no better Compass than compassion. We find ourselves not by being The most seen, but the most seeing.”

Pain Poetry Language Grief Compassion Poem

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“What are we, if not what we see in another.”

Self Poetry Poem Self Image Others

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“Anxiety is a living body, Poised beside us like a shadow. It is the last creature standing, The only beast who loves us Enough to stay.”

Poetry Poem Anxiety Mental Health

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“There is nothing so agonizing, or so dangerous, as a memory unexpressed, unexplored, unexplained, & unexploded. Grief is the grenade that always goes off.”

Poetry Memories Grief Poem Repression

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“For there is always light, If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Poetry Change Poem Bravery Social Justice

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“It's said that ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is this: a vine that sneaks up a tree, killing not by poison, but by blocking out its light.”

Poetry Knowledge Ignorance Poem

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“By now, we understand That white supremacy & the despair it demands Are as destructive as any disease So when you're told that your rage is reactionary, Remind yourself that rage is our right. It teaches us it is time to fight. In the face of injustice, Not only is anger natural, but necessary, Because it helps carry us to our destination.”

Poetry Poem Anger Injustice Rage Fury And Faith

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“Non-being, i.e., distance from society—social distance—is the very heritage of the oppressed. Which means to the oppressor, social distance is a humiliation. It is to be something less than free, or worse, someone less-than-white. For what does the Karen carry but her dwindling power, dying & desperate? Dangerous & dangling like a gun hung from a tongue?”

Poetry Society Poem Oppression Marginalized Marginalized People Karens Oppressed People

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“To be haunted is to be hunted By a history that is still hurting, Needing healing as much as we do.”

Poetry Healing History Poem

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“The fact of the matter is that our country seldom counts all who Matter. This is why red seeps from our flag.”

America Poetry United States Poem Usa United States Of America Us American Flag Flag Us Flag

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“America, How to sing Our name, Singular, Signed, Singed.”

America Poetry Challenges History Poem Patriotism Problems

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“We can only fully understand language by what doesn't survive it.”

Poetry Language Poem Poems Languages

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“I can hear change humming In its loudest, proudest song. I don’t fear change coming, And so I sing along.”

Fear Change Poem

Book:Change Sings: a Children's Anthem

Source: Change Sings: a Children's Anthem

“I hum with a hundred hearts, Each of us lifting a hand. I use my strengths and my smarts, Take a knee to make a stand.”

Change Race Poem

Book:Change Sings: a Children's Anthem

Source: Change Sings: a Children's Anthem

“Anyone who has lived Is an historian & an artifact, For they hold all their time within them.”

Life Poetry Time History Poem Living Artifacts Historians

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

“We've never had to hate a human To hug another, never had to be fearful To be fond of the hearts beating out to us.”

Love Poetry Hate Fear Poem

Book:Call Us What We Carry

Source: Call Us What We Carry

About the Author

Known for: Author
Quotes: 56

Books & Sources

Call Us What We CarryRelated source material

Call Us What We Carry: PoemsRelated source material

Change Sings: a Children's AnthemRelated source material

The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the CountryRelated source material