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Naomi Shihab Nye Quotes (1952-)
Writer, Poet, Novelist
About Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye (Arabic: نعومي شهاب ناي; born March 12, 1952) is a Palestinian American poet, editor, songwriter, and novelist.
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“She opened her mouth
and a siren came out.”
and a siren came out.”
“Some days were long sentencesflowing into one another.”
“If you could be anyone,would you choose to be yourself?”
“All our roots go deep down, even if they’re tangled (p199)”
“The person who's vanished is the one you really think about.”
“The minute you place yourself above, what does that do to others?”
“Think of all the towns and cities
we've never seen or imagined.”
we've never seen or imagined.”
“what lovely, larger life becomes ours when we listen to one another”
“Right then he knew that moment was clearly written in his brain forever. (p170)”
“When we were born
we were blank pieces of paper;
nothing had been written yet.”
we were blank pieces of paper;
nothing had been written yet.”
“Part of the role of the writer is to encourage other people to discover their voices.”
“Salma Khadra al-Jayusi has been instrumental in her role as a transmitter of Arabic literature.”
“Here at home, the night belonged to the moon. Electricity was rationed, three hours each evening.”
Naomi Shihab Nye Quotes by Topic
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Naomi Shihab Nye on Jerusalem 3 quotes
“Jerusalem is so permeated with layers and textures, minglings of all kinds that, once you've lived there you don't get over it.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Kindness 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Kindness →Naomi Shihab Nye on Poetry 2 quotes
“all poems belong to anyone who loves them.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Story 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Story →Naomi Shihab Nye on Politics 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Politics →Naomi Shihab Nye on War 2 quotes
“Greedy men say "More!" to war Sitting together telling stories could change that but who will take the time?”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Translation 2 quotes
“Whenever someone suggests "how much is lost in translation!" I want to say, "Perhaps but how much is gained!" A new world of readers, for one thing.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Singing
“Sing, sing freely”
What Naomi Shihab Nye Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Naomi Shihab Nye shared regarding contemporaries.
Naomi Shihab Nye on Mary Oliver 3 quotes
“It’s a poem that becomes like an emblem poem for people.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Refugee 2 quotes
“In your dream no one is a refugee. Everyone has clean sheets.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Robert W. Bly 2 quotes
“People I read a lot to my son were people like Robert Bly and Lucille Clifton, Frank O’Hara for some reason, Chinese poems, Japanese poems.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Lucille Clifton 2 quotes
“People I read a lot to my son were people like Robert Bly and Lucille Clifton, Frank O’Hara for some reason, Chinese poems, Japanese poems.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Paul Robeson 2 quotes
“Paul Robeson stood/on the northern border/of the USA/and sang into Canada/where a vast audience/sat on folding chairs/waiting to hear him./He sang into Canada./His voice left the USA/when his body was/not allowed to cross that line…”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Walt Whitman 2 quotes
“Walt was always working on the same book/First edition did not/have his name on cover/He reviewed himself in newspapers anonymously/quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson/without permission/on the spine/Emerson was not thrilled/Take a breath/Full breath/That's what I call a poet”
Naomi Shihab Nye on William S. Burroughs
“William Burroughs also believed in taking Vitamin/C.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Joni Mitchell
“Joni Mitchell said in an interview, Everything I am,/I'm not.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Julia Child
Naomi Shihab Nye on Ernest Hemingway
“Ernest Hemingway ate an apple before writing. This might or might not have explained his crisp, short sentences.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Frank O'Hara
“People I read a lot to my son were people like Robert Bly and Lucille Clifton, Frank O’Hara for some reason, Chinese poems, Japanese poems.”
Naomi Shihab Nye on Mark Twain
“There is only one known video of Mark Twain,/wearing a white linen suit in 1909,/walking outside a house in Connecticut,/talking with Thomas Edison.”
Quotes About Naomi Shihab Nye
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Naomi Shihab Nye from others.
Phebe Davidson on Naomi Shihab Nye
“The texture of Nye's work reflects a life filled with nourishing family and wider human connections, and with travel as well...Always concerned with the detail of daily life and the emotional weight it carries, Nye is a poet who finds poetry everywhere around her, as well as a prose artist who brings to her work keen observation leavened with humor and compassion. Writing, as she says, is for her a necessary act.”
Albert Goldbarth blurb for on Naomi Shihab Nye
“Savvy writer”
Paulette Jiles blurb for on Naomi Shihab Nye
“born on a bridge between two cultures, poet Naomi Shihab Nye is like a brilliant, talkative telephone operator in the Global Village: she plugs the reader in, makes connections, audacious comments, lyrical phrases.”
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz on Naomi Shihab Nye
“Naomi Shihab Nye, for her poems, sisterhood, and heart.”
Kim Stafford blurb for on Naomi Shihab Nye
“I say with Naomi Nye, "savoring the close experience of local and international kinship, This is the nectar off which I will feed."”
Krista Tippett on Naomi Shihab Nye
“It’s pretty intriguing to follow Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea that most of us actually “think in poems,” whether we know it or not. What she commends as a simple practice of writing explains the surprising power of what I know best from a long life of journaling. The act of writing things down just helps. As she says, it can be a tool to survive in hard times, or to anchor our days, but also to get into a more gracious community with ourselves — or rather, with all of the selves that live on in each of us at any given moment: the “child self, your older self, your confused self, your self that makes a lot of mistakes.” Naomi Shihab Nye was long a self-professed “wandering poet.” Today she’s the Young People’s Poet Laureate of the Poetry Foundation, while also a professor of creative writing at Texas State University. And one poem she wrote, called “Kindness,” is held close by people around the world.”
Melissa Tuckey ‘Ghost Fishing on Naomi Shihab Nye
Marion Winik blurb for on Naomi Shihab Nye
“The magic trick of Naomi Nye's writing is to render the exotic familiar and the familiar exotic through apparently effortless feats of perception and language.”
About Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye (Arabic: نعومي شهاب ناي; born March 12, 1952) is a Palestinian American poet, editor, songwriter, and novelist.