Elizabeth Acevedo > Quotes

“And I think about all the things we could be
if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“The world is almost peaceful when you stop trying to understand it.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“I only know that learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. And isn't that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“Burn it! Burn it. This is where the poems are,” I say, thumping a fist against my chest. “Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“A queen
offers her hand to be kissed,
& can form it into a fist
while smiling the whole damn time.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Maybe, the only thing that has to make sense
about being somebody's friend
is that you help them be their best self
on any given day. That you give them a home
when they don't want to be in their own.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“Fight until you can’t breathe, & if you have to forfeit, you forfeit smiling, make them think you let them win.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Just because your father's present, doesn't mean he isn't absent.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“And sometimes focusing on what you can control is the only way to lessen the pang in your chest when you think about the things you can't.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

“Late into the night I write and the pages of my notebook swell from all the words I’ve pressed onto them.
It almost feels like the more I bruise the page the quicker something inside me heals.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“I will never let anyone see my full heart and destroy it.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“The world is a turntable that never stops spinning; as humans we merely choose the tracks we want to sit out and the ones that inspire us to dance.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

“I've had a lot of things to feel ashamed about and I've learned most of them are other people's problems, not mine.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

“Can you be from a place
you have never been?

You can find the island stamped all over me,
but what would the island find if I was there?

Can you claim a home that does not know you,
much less claim you as its own?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Their gazes and words
are heavy with all the things
they want you to be.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“My parents probably wanted a girl who would sit in the pews wearing pretty florals and a soft smile. They got combat boots and a mouth silent until it’s sharp as an island machete.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“...you can't control how people look at you, but you can control how far back you pull your shoulders and how high you lift your chin”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

“My brother was born a soft whistle:
quiet, barely stirring the air, a gentle sound.
But I was born all the hurricane he needed
to lift - and drop- those that hurt him to the ground.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“Pero, tú no eres fácil.”
You sure ain’t an easy one.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“Maybe anger is like a river. Maybe it crumbles everything around it. Maybe it hides so many skeletons beneath the rolling surface.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“After It happens when I’m at bodegas. It happens when I’m at school. It happens when I’m on the train. It happens when I’m standing on the platform. It happens when I’m sitting on the stoop. It happens when I’m turning the corner. It happens when I forget to be on guard. It happens all the time. I should be used to it. I shouldn’t get so angry when boys—and sometimes grown-ass men— talk to me however they want, think they can grab themselves or rub against me or make all kinds of offers. But I’m never used to it. And it always makes my hands shake. Always makes my throat tight. The only thing that calms me down after Twin and I get home is to put my headphones on. To listen to Drake. To grab my notebook, and write, and write, and write all the things I wish I could have said. Make poems from the sharp feelings inside, that feel like they could carve me wide open. It happens when I wear shorts. It happens when I wear jeans. It happens when I stare at the ground. It happens when I stare ahead. It happens when I’m walking. It happens when I’m sitting. It happens when I’m on my phone. It simply never stops.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“When has anyone ever told me
I had the right to stop it all
without my knuckles, or my anger,
with just some simple words.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“And isn't that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“She tells me words give people permission to be their fullest self and aren't these the poems I most needed to hear?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“It's wild to miss someone so much, and yet in order to care for them you have to constantly say goodbye.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High

“When your body takes up more room than your voice, you are always the target of well-aimed rumors.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“We're different, this poet and I. In looks, in body,
in background. But I don't feel so different
when I listen to her. I feel heard.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

“But one thing I learned from the Saints,
when the crossroads are open to you, you must decide a path.
I will not stand still while the world makes my choices.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“The body is a funny piece of meat. How it inflates and deflates in order to keep you alive. But how simple words can fill you up or pierce the air out of you.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“And I know the past isn't a mirror image of the future, but it's a reflection of what can be; and when your first love breaks your heart, the shards of that can draw blood for a long, long time.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High