Some women wait for themselves around the next corner and call the empty spot peace but the opposite of living is only not living and the stars do not care.

Once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of. Our erotic knowledge empowers us, becomes a lens through which we scrutinize all aspects of our existence, forcing us to evaluate those aspects honestly in terms of their relative meaning within our lives. . . .

It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others-for their use and to our detriment.

Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.

The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot.

I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk throught the rain.

Unless one lives and loves in the trenches, it is difficult to remember that the war against dehumanization is ceaseless.