On Stripping Bark from Myself(for Jane, who said trees die from it) Because women are expected to keep silent abouttheir close escapes I will not keep silentand if I am destroyed (naked tree! ) someone willpleasemark the spotwhere I fall and know I could not livesilent in my own lieshearing their 'how nice she is! 'whose adoration of the retouched image I so despise. No. I am finished with livingfor what my mother believesfor what my brother and father defendfor what my lover elevatesfor what my sister, blushing, denies or rushesto embrace. I find my ownsmall persona standing selfagainst the worldan equality of wills I finally understand. Besides: My struggle was always againstan inner darkness: I carry within myselfthe only known keysto my death — to unlock life, or close it shutforever. A woman who loves wood grains, the coloryellowand the sun, I am happy to fightall outside murderersas I see I must. Alice Walker
About This Quote

In this poem by Sigrid Undset, she talks about her struggle to overcome what society expected of her and her determination to be true to herself. She sees her flaws and shortcomings as a strength and learns to love them as such.

Source: Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 19651990 Complete

Some Similar Quotes
  1. It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not. - Unknown
  2. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can. - Nicholas Sparks
  3. The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person. - Chuck Palahniuk
  4. Where there is love there is life. - Mahatma Gandhi
  5. It hurts to let go. Sometimes it seems the harder you try to hold on to something or someone the more it wants to get away. You feel like some kind of criminal for having felt, for having wanted. For having wanted to be wanted.... - Henry Rollins
More Quotes By Alice Walker
  1. Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.
  2. Expect nothing. Live frugally On surprise.become a stranger To need of pity Or, if compassion be freely Given out Take only enough Stop short of urge to plead Then purge away the need. Wish for nothing larger Than your own small heart Or greater than...
  3. Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it.
  4. Surely the earth can be savedby all the peoplewho insiston love.
  5. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
Related Topics