I am a member of the Muskogee people. I'm a poet, a musician, a dreamer of sorts, a questioner. Like everyone else, I'm looking for answers of some sort or the other.
Joy HarjoRead
A story matrix connects all of us._x000D_ There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The interconnectedness of our stories emphasizes the importance of every individual's journey.
Joy Harjo's quote highlights the idea that each person's story is part of a larger narrative that connects us all. It suggests that we are governed by certain rules and responsibilities, and our personal experiences unfold in a specific order that is necessary for our growth and understanding. There is an inherent value in every part of our journey, and skipping steps would undermine the significance of our collective experience.
Themes
StoryInterconnectednessJourneyResponsibilityGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech addressing the importance of personal experiences.
More from Joy Harjo
All quotes βIt's important as a writer to do my art well and do it in a way that is powerful and beautiful and meaningful, so that my work regenerates the people, certainly Indian people, and the earth and the sun. And in that way we all continue forever.
Joy HarjoRead
You just go where poetry is, whether it's in your heart or your mind or in books or in places where there's live poetry or recordings.
Joy HarjoRead
Bottom line, I have to follow what my soul says, or my spirit. And my spirit said that poetry and the arts should be without borders, should be without political borders.
Joy HarjoRead
I don't like this romanticization of Indian people in which Indian people are looked at as spiritual saviors, as people who have always taken care of the land. We're human beings. But I think different cultures have developed different aspects of humanness.
Joy HarjoRead
Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of meaning.
Joy HarjoRead
Similar quotes
In a state of poverty, illiteracy, people just remain exposed to all kinds of manipulation. That's what we have lived. It's easier to tell a poor person, 'You know what, you are poor, you're hungry because the other one has taken away your rights.'
Paul KagameRead
Sorrow is tranquility remembered in emotion.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Conscience is the most sacred of all property.
James MadisonRead
I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it. What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine β and before we know it our lives are gone.
Sterling HaydenRead
What does it mean to be born? After we die, will it be the same thing as it was before we were born? Or a different kind of nothingness? Because there might be knowledge then. Memory.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Anarchists try to identify power structures. They urge those exercising power to justify themselves. This justification does not succeed most of the time.
Noam ChomskyRead