bell hooks Abuse Quotations

There is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to death. Whether it's the mundane violence we do to our bodies by overeating toxic food or drink or the extreme violence of child abuse, domestic warfare, life-threatening poverty, addiction, or state terrorism.

Most of us find it difficult to accept a definition of love that says we are never loved in a context where there is abuse.

Abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love. No one can rightfully claim to be loving when behaving abusively.

Few people who are hit once by someone they love respond in the way they might to a singular physical assault by a stranger.