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Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd Quotes

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Famous Sue Monk Kidd Quotes

“Women themselves condition their daughters to serve the system of male primacy. If a daughter challenges it, the mother will generally defend the system rather than her daughter. These mothers, victims themselves, have unwittingly become wounded wounders. Women need to attack culture's oppression of women, for there truly is a godlike socializing power that induces women to "buy in" or collude, but we also need to confront our own part in accepting male dominance and take responsibility where appropriate.”

IfsNeedsMotherCultureWomenChallengesResponsibilityAcceptingConditionsDaughterVictimMalesOppressionAppropriateWoundedTaking ResponsibilityDominanceGodlikeSocializingPrimacyMale Dominance
Author:Sue Monk Kidd
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“I hadn't been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called 'bee yard etiquette'. She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don't be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don't swat. Don't even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee's temper. Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWorldWantFeelsLittlesLongStillsLike YouFineLessonsAngryIdiotLittle ThingsTemperPantsBeesYardsEtiquetteSleevesHivesWhistlingAgitate
Book:The Secret Life of Bees
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“Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head, but if you lie down now and then and get still as you can, it will slide open like elevator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that have been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top. The real troubles in life happen when those hidden doors stay closed for too long.”

IfsHumansLongHas BeensStillsRealHappensEarthFacesLyingHuman BeingsSecretTroubleDoorsStandingPushingNow And ThenPlatesButtonsSteelSlidesElevatorsLife HappensSecret ThoughtsTroubles In Life
Author:Sue Monk Kidd
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“The question occurred to me: Well, if that's so, if the Divine is ultimately formless and genderless, what's the big deal? Why all this bother? The bother is because we have no other way of speaking about the Absolute. We need forms and images. Without them we have no way of relating to the Divine. Symbol and image create a universal spiritual language. It's the language the soul understands.”

IfsWayNeedsWellsSoulBigsSpiritualFormLanguageDealsDivineUniversalAbsolutesSymbolsBotherBig Deal
Author:Sue Monk Kidd
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“Back in the autumn I had awakened to a growing darkness and cacophony, as if something in the depths were crying out. A whole chorus of voices. Orphaned voices. They seemed to speak for all the unlived parts of me, and they came with a force and dazzle that I couldn't contain. They seemed to explode the boundaries of my existence. I know now that they were the clamor of a new self struggling to be born.”

IfsKnowsSelfWholeSpeakForceVoiceBornExistenceDarknessStruggleGrowingCryDepthBoundariesAutumnAwakenedChorusClamorDazzleCacophonyNew Self
Book:When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions
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“Where do you come from?"...This is the number one most-asked question in all of South Carolina. We want to know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together.”

IfsKnowsWayWantLittlesStoriesBigsSchoolTogetherChurchNumbersBrotherFitSouthBossExesCousinBaptistsCarolinaSouth CarolinaLittle SisterYour Cousin
Book:The Secret Life of Bees
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“A moment of grace. There rose up within me a profound sense of being loved. I felt "gathered together" and encircled by a Presence completely loving, as if I were enveloped by the music of a love song created just for me. It was not overwhelming or even emotional. Just a warm knowing that I was in God's loving embrace...centered and unified there. [Love]encounters cannot be analyzed, only shared. If you take a butterfly, Robert Frost said, and pin it down into a box, you no longer have a butterfly.”

IfsSaidMomentsTogetherSongFeltKnowingGraceEmotionalEmbraceRoseProfoundBoxesWarmEncountersOverwhelmingButterflyPinsFrostBeing LovedUnified
Author:Sue Monk Kidd
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“The monk at St. Meinrad took his hands and placed them on my shoulders, peered straight into my eyes and said, ‘I hope you’ll hear what I’m about to tell you. I hope you’ll hear it all the way down to your toes. When you’re waiting, you’re not doing nothing. You’re doing the most important something there is. You’re allowing your soul to grow up. If you can’t be still and wait, you can’t become what God created you to be.”

IfsWaySaidStillsImportantSoulHandsEyeGrowsWaitingGrowing UpShouldersYour SoulAllowingToesMonkDoing Nothing
Book:When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions
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“Madonna Kolbenschlag suggest that if an awakened woman forgoes innocence and denial, if she refuses to make compromises with herself and defect to patriarchy, then her only option becomes deviance. I chose deviance. I chose to be a loving dissident. To dance the dance of dissidence. This stance can be assumed from the inside or the outside. Whichever place we choose, the important thing is having the sustained will to be, act, and speak from the ground of our feminine souls.”

IfsImportantSoulSpeakImportant ThingsRefuseCompromiseInnocenceDenialFemininePatriarchyDefectsAwakenedStanceDissidentsDeviance
Author:Sue Monk Kidd
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