“Writers, believers in words, could not give up words when the going got rough.”

— Naomi Shihab Nye, 19 Varieties of Gazelle, 2002

About Naomi Shihab Nye

Born 1952

Palestinian-American poet and author.

“Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.”

“It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words.”

“Why should it be any surprise that people find solace in the most intimate literary genre?”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”