Amanda Gorman > Quotes

“There is always light.
Only if we are brave enough to see it.
There is always light.
Only if we are brave enough to be it.”
― Amanda Gorman

“We've learned that quiet isn't always peace.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.
The new dawn balloons as we free it.
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“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.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“Lost as we feel, there is no better
Compass than compassion.
We find ourselves not by being
The most seen, but the most seeing.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“Since the world is round
There is no way to walk away
From each other, for even then
We are coming back together.”
― Amanda Gorman, 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.”
― Amanda Gorman, 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.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“By Goodbye, we truly mean:
Let us be able to say hello again.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“There is power in being robbed
& still choosing to dance.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished. . .
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“That is the promised glade, The hill we climb, if only we dare it: Because being American is more than a pride we inherit— It’s the past we step into, and how we repair it.”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“Loss is the cost of loving”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“Words matter, for
Language is an ark.
Yes,
Language is an art,
An articulate artifact.
Language is a life craft.
Yes,
Language is a life raft.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“We don’t need a gown.
We don’t need a stage.
We are walking beside our ancestors,
Their drums roar for us,
Their feet stomp at our life.
There is power in being robbed
& still choosing to dance.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“When day comes, we ask ourselves:
Where can we find light
In this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast,
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
And the norms and notions of what ‘just is’
Isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it,
Somehow, we do it.
Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed
A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl, descended from slaves
and raised by a single mother,
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising.”
― Amanda Gorman

“our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“Only when we're drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“The new dawn blooms as we free it,
For there is always light,
If only we're brave enough to see it,
If only we're brave enough to be it.”
― Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

“we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with”
― Amanda Gorman, 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.”
― Amanda Gorman

“There is nothing so agonizing, or so dangerous,
as a memory unexpressed, unexplored, unexplained, &
unexploded. Grief is the grenade that always goes off.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, History has its eyes on us.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“We were told to never use I when writing, because eliminating this voice makes arguments legitimate. But we realize there is nothing that convinces like the self does - our life, our body & its beating, proving it's own jagged point. Tell me what is more powerful than the unerased.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“To tell the truth, then, is to risk
being remembered by its fiction.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“The only way to correctly predict
The future is to pave it,
Is to brave it.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“Change is made of choices,
& choices are made of character.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry