Ani DiFranco Quotes

Mostly, I stay out of social media conversations. But sometimes, they hunt me down and shoot at me anyway!

The scary truth is, you have to scratch some veneer off to gauge where the moral fiber really is in certain pockets of society. It's raw. It's scary. But it gives us a place to work with.

Like a lot of people, I had this naive hope that Barack Obama would fix everything quickly. You know, the culture of celebrity in this country leads us away from democratic ways of thinking and into this hero worship. And so of course, one man cannot swoop in and fix everything on his own. It's much more complicated and difficult than that, and progressives in this country since then have had to come to terms with the fact that we need to do more than actually get out of our house and vote. It's an ongoing process to turn the tide.

We are taught to view pain as an enemy, not a teacher. But pain is the right hand of growth and transformation. Pain is in the history of all human wisdom.

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.

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

It's not important to be defined, it's only important to use your time well.

What I like about being independent [in the music industry] is that anybody who does play the album on the radio and anybody who does choose to write in the media does so because they want to, because they like it or because they find something interesting there, not because they have to.

I'm aware enough, I guess, of American labor history.

Birth is the epicenter of women's power

You can't start with imbalance and end with peace, be that in your own body, in an ecosystem or between a government and its people. What we need to strive for is not perfection, but balance.

I will not be afraid to let my talent shine.

My mother was a feminist, and she gave me some tools of self-possession and self-empowerment, but now that I have lived here for forty-three years, it's, like, whoa, there is just so much more to do, other than become myself. I'm still talking about it. I still drop the P-word, "patriarchy," on unsuspecting people in everyday conversations.

The windows of my soul are made of one-way glass, don't bother looking into my eyes if there's something you want to know, just ask

If you turn on the TV, you're going to get a certain palate, and if you go looking underneath the surface, there's a whole lot of stuff there that I think a lot of our generation would be really interested in.

I can't wait to get back to New York City where at least when I walk down the streat, no one ever hesitates to tell me exactly what they think of me.

Lying in bed, you know, you don't seem so tall.

and god help you if you are an ugly girl course too pretty is also your doom cause everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room and god help you if you are a pheonix and you dare to rise up from the ash a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy while you are just flying back

The bathroom mirror has not budged, the woman who lives there can tell the truth from the stuff they say and looks me in the eye- says do you prefer the easy way? No? Well ok then, dont cry.

spring is super in the supermarkets and the strawberries prance and glow never mind that they're all kinda tart and tasteless as strawberries go meanwhile wild things are not for sale anymore than they are for show so i'll be outside, in love with the kind of beauty it takes more than eyes to know

There are so many things that we have to be very concerned about. But I always come back to feminism. People look at me sideways now and are like, "With everything going on, the destruction of the environment, these endless wars, this capitalism that has a stranglehold on our culture and our world and you're talking about feminism still?"

I just see a lot of people who are really terrified of the "f-word." A lot of women these days, a lot of young women don't want to call themselves feminists.

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

I don't hate being compared with female musicians. I don't mind that at all. I have no problem with seeing connections between women's work.

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

I'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall, and when we leave the landlord will come and paint over it all.

What makes you so lavish that you can afford to spend every sober moment feeling angry and bored?

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.

I am not an angry girl, but it seems I've got everyone fooled. Every time I say something they find hard to hear, they chalk it up to my anger and not to their own fear. Imagine you're a girl just trying to finally come clean, knowing full well they prefer you dirty and smiling.

Let's grow old and die together. Let's do it now.

Some people wear their smile like a disguise. Those people who smile a lot, watch their eyes. I know 'cause I'm like that a lot. You think everything's ok, and it is . . . 'till it's not.

TIME is not a thing that's ours to lose.

When I look around I think this, this is good enough; And I laugh at whatever life brings because when I look down, I just miss all the good stuff and when I look up, I just trip over things.

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

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.

Up up up up up up points the spire of the steeple but god's work isn't done by god it's done by people

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.

I just hope it was okay, I know it wasn't perfect, I hope in the end we can laugh and say it was all worth it.

I believe the act of giving birth to be the single most miraculous thing a human being can do and it is surely the moment when a lot of women finally understand the depth of their power. You think it can’t possibly be done, you think you can’t possibly take the pain, and then you do-—and afterward you look at yourself in a whole new way. If you can do that, you can do anything.

Smile pretty and watch your back

First decide what you got to do, then go out and do it. All we can do is to see each other through it.

We negotiate with chaos for some sense of satisfaction.

And thoughts of no other man but you could possibly get through the picket lines to enter into my mind.

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

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.

If you don't ask the right question, every answer seems wrong -

I'm home in New Orleans!