Amanda Gorman Quotes

American poet and activist

Amanda Gorman (born 7 March 1998) is an American poet and social activist. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015, and became the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. She studied sociology at Harvard College, and graduated cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received worldwide attention with her recitation of her poem "The Hill We Climb" written for the inauguration of US President Joe Biden.

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Alternative Names: Amanda S. C. Gorman

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We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, And the norms and notions of what “just is” Isn’t always justice.

That even as we grieved, we grew,
That even as we hurt, we hoped,
That even as we tired, we tried.

We can only fully understand language by what doesn't survive it.

Disease is physiological death, Loneliness is a social one, Where the old We collapses like a lung.

While we might feel small, separate & all alone, Our people have never been more closely tethered. The question isn’t if we can weather this unknown, But how we will weather this unknown together.

But the point of protest isn't winning;
It's holding fast to the promise of freedom,
Even when fast victory is not promised.

For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude, Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it. So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain: Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it.

There is power in being robbed
& still choosing to dance.

The crescent moon, The night’s lucent lesion. We are felled oaks beneath it, Branches full of empty. Look closer. What we share is more Than what we’ve shed.

Because being American is more than a pride we inherit — It's the past we step into, and how we repair it.

Our wounds, too, are our windows
Through them we watch the world

Meaning, we cannot stand up to police If we cannot cease policing our imagination, Convincing our communities that this won’t work, When the work hasn’t even begun, That this can wait, When we’ve already waited out a thousand suns. By now, we understand That white supremacy & the despair it demands Are as destructive as any disease.

Let no one again
Have to begin, love, or end, alone.

We write
Because you might listen.

This is the era of just redemption. We feared it at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves so while once we asked, "How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? " Now we assert, "How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?"