Ani Difranco Quotations | Page 2

I was blessed with a birth and a death, and I guess I just want some say in between.

Take away our play stations and we are a third world nation.

I sing sometimes for the war that I fight, 'Cause every tool is a weapon if you hold it right.

I turned my pain into art and my hard work into a career. Helping myself has helped others. helping others has helped me.

I know men are delicate origami creatures who need women to unfold them, hold them when they cry. But I am tired of being your savior and I am tired of telling you why.

I'll walk the plank and I'll jump with a smile, cause if I'm gonna go down I'm gonna do it with style.

Stepped out into the cold, collar high, under the slate gray sky. The air was smoking and the streets were dry, and I wasn't joking when I said goodbye.

My music doesn't really sound like punk music, it's acoustic. And it doesn't really sound like folk music 'cause I'm thrashing too hard and emoting a little too much for the sort of introspective, respectful, sort-of folk genre thing. I'm really into punk and folk as music that comes out of communities and is very genuine and very immediate and not commercial.

We've got ego's like hairdos.

I always wanted to be commander-in-chief of my one-woman army, But I can envision the mediocrity of my finest hour.

Words are hotter than flames. Words are wetter than water.

I like to be an inspiration and an example of the idea that you can be independent, and it's no problem, and you can pay your rent, and it's empowering, and it's great. And that's true, but it also takes a really long time, and you have to have a lot of patience and a lot of conviction in why you want to remain independent.

I'm an all powerful amazon warrior, not just some sniveling girl.

Don't tell me what they did to you as though you had no choice. Tell me, isn't that your picture? Isn't that your voice.

Love isn't over when the sheets are stained.

Well, it's really gratifying to me to have a stage and some bright lights and a microphone. They're tools and opportunities, and to be able to just pull somebody up on stage with me and point at them is a great feeling.

Subtract out the impact and the fall is all you get. So here's two beers to remember why and three more to forget.

So many of us, myself included, need to keep our sense of personal outrage in check. Each human beings position on the planet is one of intense humility.

There's this brutal imperial power, that my passport says I represent. But it will never represent where my heart lives, only vaguely where it went.

I love to exercise my creativity in many ways but as each year of specialization goes by I feel further and further from my other creative selves. I used to be able to see myself doing many things and sometimes I still long for a job that involves less pressure and grappling with people but, as you say, I am one of the lucky ones so I try to just focus on feeling lucky and carry on!

But in the garden of simple, where all of us are nameless, you were never anything but beautiful to me.

While out in TV Nation, under darkening skies, the resistance is just waiting to be organized.

To split yourself in two is just the most radical thing you can do

I still define myself by the places that I've been.

I'd rather suffer the consequences of truth than of silence.

Goldfish have no memory, I guess their lives are much like mine. And the little plastic castle is a surprise everytime.

Emptiness has its solace in that there's nothing left to take.

All the decent people, male and female, are feminists. The only people who are not feminists are those who believe that women are inherently inferior or undeserving of the respect and opportunity afforded men. Either you are a feminist or you are a misogynist. There is no box marked "other."

I hope progressive ways of thinking will permeate the "mainstream" more and more in the coming years. Goddess knows we have endured a very long spell (thirty plus years) of regressive thinking and hyper conservativism dominating our culture and national discourse. It necessitates risk taking and rule breaking by people in all walks of life to swing that pendulum back though.

It's just hard to travel in the shadow of regret. In fact, it's so hard that I actually haven't left yet.

A little bird told me that jumping is easy and the falling is fun, right up until you hit sidewalk shivering and stunned.

You've decided to love me for eternity, I'm still deciding who I want to be today.

I'm pretty much a workaholic, but when you're doing what you love it's hard to think of a reason to stop.

The old farm roads a four lane that leads to the mall, and our dreams are all guillotines waiting to fall.

And I was shocked to see the mistakes of each generation will just fade like a radio station, if we drive out of range.

In a man's world, I am a woman by birth and after 19 times around I have found - they will stop at nothing once they know what you are worth.

What we all have to admit to is that one man cannot save us. Unless we start energizing ourselves, all standing behind him with all of the force of our collective power then we can't expect mountains to be moved. And that is not exactly happening, we are a very comfortable population.

All the wrong people have the power of suggestion and the freedom of the press is meaningless if nobody asks a question.

We are wise, wise women. We are giggling girls.

We get a little further from perfection each year. I think that's called character. I think that's just how it goes.

Promiscuity does not scare me as long as she is savvy and self possessed when puberty comes to call. My aim is to simply raise my daughter to be secure in her self worth and capable of happiness all on her own.

And if there's anything I do it's change and grow. I'm just a living being. Every year of my life I seem to learn that everything I know is wrong.

I know the biggest crime is just to throw up your hands and say 'This has nothing to do with me, I just want to live as comfortably as I can.'

You got to look outside- your eyes- you got to think outside- your brain- you got to walk outside- your life- to where the neighborhoods change.

I mean, playing music at home and writing and hanging out with my guitar is kind of medicinal for me, but when I bring the songs to people on stage, it's very joyous.

i found religion in the greeting card aisle now i know hallmark was right

...words are some of the most powerful and important things I know....Language is the tool of love and the weapon of hatred. It's the bright red warning flag of danger--and the stone foundation of diplomacy and peace.

I want somebody who sees the pointlessness and still keeps their purpose in mind; I want somebody who has a tortured soul ...some of the time

Having more exposure is kind of a bittersweet thing for me, honestly, because it's nice to have a little more job security in life now.

Why do our kids have to show us what gun control is all about?

When I was like sixteen, I was a total chick I had big hair. I was seen as this attractive girl, and I would get all this attention. And then I just cut off my hair, and I quit playing that game.

People talk about my image like I come in two dimensions, like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind, like what I happen to be wearing the day that someone takes my picture is my new statement for all womankind.

I mean, I think it's hard enough to find somebody you can stand for more than ten minutes, so, like, you shouldn't narrow your options.

There's a crowd of people harbored in each person There are so many roles that we play.

Privilege is a headache, that you don't know that you don't have.

When all you can think of is your own personal problems, you have nothing to give to your society. If you're trying to figure out where your next meal is coming from, you can't go march on Washington.

My feminism has evolved way beyond self-empowerment and I see feminism as a path to peace on earth. The fundamental imbalance that is behind all of the other social diseases is patriarchy. I do believe. As men and women, together, I really long to feel my society evolve its understanding since we're one of the leaders in the f-word. I want us to grow our idea of feminism collectively and get both men and women involved in undoing patriarchy. It's huge. It's a huge job.

I was attracted to a lot of different art forms - dancing, painting. But there's something about music that people hold so close. It's such a powerful art form, and that's why I live for it.

Love was always the goal, and my point every step of the way was that nothing is wrong with love, no matter what flavor it comes in.

I will not be afraid to let my talent shine.

What I like way better than LGBT in terms of labeling sexuality actually is a scheme that comes to me from my friend Animal Prufrock wherein one is identified not by what they supposedly "are" but rather by what they are into. Which brings us to the terms hemosexual, shemosexual, and mosexual.

I think it is very useful to know ourselves, but when we start naming and labeling, that is dangerous, that gets problematic. It negates that things are always changing. Besides, it's hard to pin a label onto something that's always moving.

Those who call the shots are never in the line of fire.

At night when you're asleep, self-hatred's going to creep in. And you can blame it on the devil, the one who's bed you sleep in.

I never try to imagine the future. I kinda think it's a waste of time. I live in the now.

I'm the color me happy girl, Miss live and let live. And when they're out for blood, I always give.

I would rather have these things weigh on my mind. At the end of this tunnel of guilt and shame, there must be a light of some kind.

I have earned my disillusionment.

There is no alternative. A Democrat is a Republican is a big businessman, and we're all consumers instead of citizens. It just manifests in the culture, in the music, in the art. I feel a little panicky about it.

I cannot name this, I cannot explain this, and I really don't want to so just call me shameless.

Feel free to listen, feel free to stare.

No one's gonna sympathize when we crash, they'll say you hit what you head for, you get what you ask.

Outside sleep's open window, between the drops of rain, history is writing a recipe book for every earthly pain.

It's the ground that we walk on, it's where we sit, it's the language that we use. It's a difficult undertaking, but I think without healing that and creating more of a balance between the sexes, we will never have balance globally. I feel like I am going deeper and deeper into this space where I came from that I barely understood.

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.

I think the gay community should get smart and drop the word marriage. Do you really need to change every right-wing Christian to make sure you get your equal rights? Eyes on the prize, we should be sticking to getting equal rights.

I speak without reservation, from what I know and who I am. I do so with the understanding that all people should have the right to offer their voices to the chorus whether the result is harmony or dissonance. The worldsong is a colorless dirge without the differences that distinguish us, and it is that difference which should be celebrated not condemned.

You are so lame. You always disappoint me. It's kind of like our running joke but it's really not funny and I just want you to live up to the image of you I create.

[The 'corporate takeover of people's lives'] also accounts for a lot of homogenization of culture. There are fast food restaurants everywhere. Every place tastes the same.

now the profile of our country looks a little less hard nosed / but that picket line persisted and that clinic's since been closed / they keep pounding their fists on reality hoping it will break / but I don't think there's a one of us leads a life free of mistakes

People used to make records, as in the record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room, and now everything's cross-marketing, its about sunglasses and shoes, or guns and drugs that you choose.

I always try and stay one step ahead of people, not looking like I looked like last week, so I can be as anonymous as possible and part of it is just for me. It is fun to just come up with new and bizarre colors for each area of your body and things like that, but there are some parts of it that I just keep wanting to negate myself. I hate waking up in the morning and recognizing the woman in the bathroom mirror.

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

Now let's get talking: reefer madness. Like some arrogant government can't, By any stretch of the imagination, outlaw a plant.

My country tis of thee, to take swings at each other on talk show TV.

I would like to perfect the art of being studiously aloof

I am a work in progress Dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding Offering me intricate patterns of questions Rhythms that never come clean And strengths that you still haven't seen

We have a complete void of progressive politics in this country right now. The will of the people goes ignored and unrealized. I'm searching for the people that can enter the political system, a strong third party. We need to consolidate.

Actually I don't know if honesty is a strength or some kind of weakness.

Life is a sleazy stranger, who looks vaguely familiar; flirting with a bimbo named disaster at the end of the bar.

There's a certain window of time in the middle of the night out in Middle America where there's no bar open and nothing on TV. If you don't want to do too many drugs, you have to start bodily mutilation.

Before Katrina, you didn't see criticism of the Bush administration in the media. Here they are, stealing elections, enacting illegal wars, huge crimes against humanity and democracy, and you didn't even see criticism. It wasn't until Katrina that people started to come down on them.

These days I keep a journal, so I'm constantly sketching down my thoughts, or lines that come to me...ideas for songs. And then when I have a moment to myself, I'll sit down with my guitar and open my journal, and start kind of massaging things together, and see if a song takes shape. Or sometimes, I'll just be hanging out with my guitar and come up with a chord progression or a lick, and that'll sort of sit around for a while waiting to marry itself to some words. So it's sort of haphazard and it's like...junk culture. I go around finding shiny objects and I glue them together laughs.

These days, I find I'm applying a little more patience to my process. If I look back on my work, I can see those songs I bailed on could have been better, that had those great two verses and then I kind of coasted from there. These days, if a song is giving me trouble, I put it aside and pick it up later, and keep doing that, for a year if I have to, until it takes shape.

My writing just kind of exists out there in the air-it's all sort of intended as spoken, or sung, word. So, to commit them to the page...that way was kind of intimidating to me, yet intriguing, to try to reflect the rhythms and connotations and emotions that you can deliver, speaking-wise, on a page.

I noticed with older songs that I perform that I'm coming from a different place with them now...it mutates the vibe and even the meaning of the same words when you have a different spirit, if the person singing is different. I like that, to be able to sing an emotionally wrought song from a more centered place, or to sing an eager, youthful song from a more experienced place. It kind of colors the songs differently, and it keeps them fresh.

You rhapsodize about beauty, and my eyes glaze. Everything that I love is ugly. I mean really, you would be amazed. Just do me a favor, it's the least that you can do, just don't treat me like I am something that happened to you.

Like how could you do nothing, and say, 'I'm doing my best.' How could you take almost everything, and then come back for the rest? How could you beg me to stay, reach out your hands and plead, and then pack up your eyes and run away as soon as I agreed?

If you want to challenge the system, don't go to bed with it.

What bugs me is that you believe what you're saying. What bothers me is that you don't know how you feel. What scares me is that while you're telling me stories, you actually believe that they are real.