Forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?
BELL HOOKSForgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?
BELL HOOKSThe one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love our female selves is where our search for love must begin.
BELL HOOKSMy idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful. But the ruling passion of my life is being a seeker after truth and the divine.
BELL HOOKSIf any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.
BELL HOOKSTo know love we have to invest time and commitment.
BELL HOOKSLove is an action, never simply a feeling.
BELL HOOKSLiving simply makes loving simple.
BELL HOOKSOnce you do away with the idea of people as fixed, static entities, then you see that people can change, and there is hope.
BELL HOOKSNo black woman writer in this culture can write “too much”. Indeed, no woman writer can write “too much”. No woman has ever written enough.
BELL HOOKSIf we give our children sound self-love, they will be able to deal with whatever life puts before them.
BELL HOOKSThere is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to death.
BELL HOOKSTo love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.
BELL HOOKSAll the men I fall for seem to have a commitment problem.
BELL HOOKSGiving generously in romantic relationships, and in all other bonds, means recognizing when the other person needs our attention. Attention is an important resource.
BELL HOOKSWhen we face pain in relationships our first response is often to sever bonds rather than to maintain commitment.
BELL HOOKSJustice demands integrity. It’s to have a moral universe – not only know what is right or wrong but to put things in perspective, weigh things. Justice is different from violence and retribution; it requires complex accounting.
BELL HOOKS