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Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler Quotes

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Famous Eve Ensler Quotes

“What if, instead of being afraid of even talking about death, we saw our lives in some ways as preparation for it. What if we were taught to ponder it and reflect on it and talk about it and enter it and rehearse it and try it on?What if, rather than being cast out and defined by some terminal category, you were identified as someone in the middle of a transformation that could deepen your soul, open your heart, and all the while-even if and particularly when you were dying-you would be supported by and be part of a community?”

IfsWayTryingHeartSoulWould BeCommunityTalkingSawsOur LivesMiddleDyingTaughtTransformationCastsDefinedPreparationYour SoulWhat IfCategoriesPonderingBeing AfraidOpen Your HeartTerminalIfs And
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“But my body was telling its story. I have read a lot of stuff about cancer. I needed this book. I wish I'd had this book when I had cancer. I wanted someone to be talking to me about "fart floors." I wanted somebody telling me what it was like to have a colostomy bag. I felt so alone. And if you're a person who's been traumatized by past abuse, it's so potentially re-traumatizing. You slip right into "oh my god, this is the only person this has happened to before" mentality: "I'm especially bad and I have especially bad cancer..."”

IfsPersonsBookStoriesBodyWantedPastWishFeltStuffTalkingHappenedNeededAbuseCancerBagsSlipsMentalityFartWanted Someone
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“We get off track. Capitalism takes us off track. You get off the "real" and get on the "wheel." The "wheel" becomes the winning and losing, the succeeding and failing, the "I will achieve." All that stuff becomes so preoccupying, particularly if you're born with low self-esteem, or no sense of yourself, or even if you're just born in the consumer culture. It's very powerful.”

IfsRealSelfCultureWinningStuffBornPowerfulFailingAchieveSelf EsteemSucceedLosingLowsCapitalismTrackEsteemConsumersWheelsVery PowerfulLow Self EsteemWinning And LosingConsumer Culture
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“If you look at capitalism and patriarchy, they're both such hierarchical, competitive, oneupmanship systems. They've trained us all [to think] that power means having all the goods or having the most money or having the most attention or having the most fame. That's not the power that interests me. Actually, the deconstruction of that power is what interests me.”

IfsThinkingLooksMeanInterestAttentionFameCapitalismGoodsPatriarchyDeconstruction
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“Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing.”

IfsWantLifeBelieveImportantStrongStarsSleepSolitudeKissingFindingsTrainSticksInstinctCherishDisagreeFar AwayComing BackFittingBeing Afraid
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“Wouldn't it be incredible if everyone could be purged, somehow, of the projected not-them badness that they internalized and perhaps have acted out because their souls have been so damaged? Wouldn't it be incredible if everyone could find the joy that comes with committing to our own goodness? Perhaps we would stop dividing ourselves into malignancies of various forms.”

IfsHas BeensSoulFormJoyGoodnessIncrediblesVariousDividingBadnessMalignancy
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