Ani DiFranco Quotes

For a girl, the fear of not being pretty is the fear of not being a valuable object, which is the fear of not being loved. It is a conflation that is instilled so early on and runs so deep that, even when you know it's a fear perpetrated by patriarchy, goaded by fashion magazines, and used to manipulate you into buying stuff, you still can't stop the way it affects you. Being a woke feminist doesn't mean you've overcome it, it just means you've learned to live with your perpetual self-loathing and your anger around it, too.

We discovered we are both pleasantly furious half of the time,
When we're not just toeing the line.

To put it opinionatedly, strumming an acoustic guitar is akin to scratching on the surface of a drum: antithetical to its nature.

Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right.

Love sets fire to your schedule,
And then calls an end to time.

...I try to laugh at whatever life brings...

Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there.
You know it doesn't seem fair,
That I'm living for something I can't even define.
And there you are right there, in the mean time.

It makes me really sad that women have been ejected from the seat of their power in this society in terms of what happens around childbirth. In other parts of the world, there are places where women can't drive a car, but they're still in charge of childbirth... The minute my child was born, I was reborn as a feminist. It's so incredible what women do. I find it metaphorically resonant that a pregnant woman looks like she's just sitting on a couch, but she's actually exhausting herself constructing a human being. The laborious process of growing a human is analogous to how 'women's work' is seen.

Some of life's best lessons are learned at the worst times.

and becomes that dragonfly, that mountain, that happy, cherished baby right there. Trust women and fear not. All of consciousness is manifesting, no matter who gives birth to what.

i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world

Maybe you don't like your job. Maybe you didn't get enough sleep. Nobody likes their job; nobody got enough sleep. Maybe you just had the worst day of your life. You know there's no escape and there's no excuse, so just suck up and be nice.

They say that the truth will set you free
But then again, so will a lie...
It depends if you're trying to get to the promised land
Or if you're just trying to get by.

and honesty is the hardest part
yeah honesty is the highest art
and honestly i myself just started
and eureka i’m less broken-hearted

They can call me crazy if I fail
All the chance that I need
Is one in a million
And they can call me brilliant
If I succeed…