Tan > Tan's Quotes

“Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i love myself.'

the
quietest.
simplest.
most
powerful.
revolution.
ever.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i am mine.
before i am ever anyone else's.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Nejma

“Just because someone desires you, it does not mean that they value you.


Read it over.

Again.

Let those words resonate in your mind.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be five mins. five hours. five days. five months. five years. a lifetime. five lifetimes. let it manifest itself the way it is meant to. it has an organic destiny. this way if it stays or if it leaves, you will be softer. from having been loved this authentically. souls come into. return. open. and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons. let them be who. and what they are meant.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“Chemistry is you touching my arm and it setting fire to my mind"
Nayyirah Waheed”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“No’ might make them angry but it will make you free.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“When I am afraid to speak is when I speak.
That is when it is most important.”
― Nayyirah waheed

“Desire is the kind of thing that
eats you
and
leaves you starving.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“it is being honest
about
my pain
that
makes me invincible.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i do not expect my child’s respect.
just because i have given birth to their life.
does not mean they owe me.
anything.
what i want most
is to look into my child’s eyes
and
see
that i have given birth
to
a
heart.
have
honored.
held and feed.
someones
heart.
from the moment we first met.
and
they love me for it.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the world is nothing but endings.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“she asked ‘you are in love, what does love look like’ to which i replied ‘like everything i’ve ever lost come back to me.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“never
trust anyone
who says
they do not see color.
this means
to them,
you are invisible.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“in our own ways we all break. it is okay to hold your heart outside of your body for days. months. years. at a time. – heal”
― Nayyirah Waheed, salt.

“the truth is
you were born for you.
you were wanted by you.
you came for you.
you are here for you.
your existence is yours.
yes.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Nejma

“I want to live so densely. lush. and slow in the next few years, that a year becomes ten years, and my past becomes only a page in the book of my life.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“if we must
both
be right.
we will
lose
each other.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“do not choose the lesser life. do you hear me. do you hear me. choose the life that is. yours. the life that is seducing your lungs. that is dripping down your chin.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, nejma

“grieve. so that you can be free to feel something else.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, nejma

“there are feelings. you haven’t felt yet. give them time. they are almost here. – fresh”
― Nayyirah Waheed, salt.

“be easy. take your time. you are coming home. to yourself. — the becoming”
― Nayyirah Waheed, nejma

“would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you. – a question of appropriation”
― Nayyirah Waheed, salt.

“listen to my poems
but do not look for me
look for you.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

“and i heard her say, 'you
are afraid of love. but
love is not afraid of you.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Nejma

“go.
enjoy.
leave.
it was all about you, anyway.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

“you ask your heart why it is always hurting. it says ‘this is the only thing you will allow me to say to you. the only feeling you are willing to feel.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, salt.