By the time I’ve finished with you,
you won’t know whether you’ve been kissed or cut,
whether you were loved or butchered.
and either way you probably won’t care,
just grateful you came close enough to touch.


Warsan Shire

  Email Quote to Friends   Link to Quote   Create Short URL  Publish Text About This Quote   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Quotes For You

Related

Whatever. I just won’t have Elena hurt, is all. Or the little red-headed witch.”

“...
L.J. SMITH
No matter how close, you are always too far
My eyes are drawn everywhere you are.

I...
CORA CARMACK
Just a shower. If you want me to stay on the opposite side, I will. I won’t kiss. I won’t touch....
KATIE MCGARRY
Long-time viewing of Internet violence tend to change a person's temperament, making the person pron...
YOU QUANXI
If positive and healthy materials are absent, negative materials are sure to be dominant in the cybe...
YOU QUANXI
In a robust global business environment, our business units operated well in the first quarter. More...
HARRY YOU
The Board of Directors and I are pleased to recognize Peter's outstanding contribution to the succes...
HARRY YOU
We are pleased to close the books on 2004 following the painstaking review of almost five years of f...
HARRY YOU
Lia pulled back, moonlight dancing in her dark eyes. “If you’re trying to make me go easy on you...
LISA KESSLER
XVII

Lady, i will touch you with my mind.
Touch you and touch and touch
until y...
E.E. CUMMINGS
when you are broken
and he has left you
do not question
whether you were
enough<...
RUPI KAUR
The point is, if we find out you’ve been horrible to Harry —”
“— and make no mistake,...
J.K. ROWLING
Is it okay to kiss you?” he asks.
“What?”
“I won’t get struck by lightning?
CYNTHIA HAND
For weeks Charlie had been singing the same song over and over again.
“Dinah won’t you b...
NEAL SHUSTERMAN
Seriously? You won’t help me?”
“Help yourself get killed? No, I won’t.
DAVE BARRY
I want to fall to sleep with you,
and I could care less
whether it is in
layers up...
BEAU TAPLIN
all the girls you’ve ever loved, i think i loved them too.
interlude for the grand sonata
WARSAN SHIRE
I want you to tell me about every person you’ve ever been in love with.
Tell me why you loved...
ANDREA GIBSON
You are writing a Gospel,
A chapter each day,
By deeds that you do,
By words that y...
PAUL B. GILBERT
Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get
away, or whether you do...
KENNETH GRAHAME
Listen.
Do you see
that you can’t hear snowfall?
Look.
Do you sense
that...
KAMAND KOJOURI
Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of ca...
PABLO NERUDA
and you invented me
and I invented you
and that's why we don't
get along
on this...
CHARLES BUKOWSKI
Aim for something Rosie, I know you don’t want to hear it, but it will
help. Aim for what you...
CECELIA AHERN
Don’t worry…three vampire meanies and a horse won’t keep me away from you.”

Kali...
KAILIN GOW
Don’t be afraid,

Even if I’ll be unable to See,

I swear, I’ll find you A...
DHRUV AGRAWAL
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without c...
PABLO NERUDA
I’ve helped you when I could, Caine. I’ve done all of it. I kept you alive and changed your filt...
MICHAEL GRANT
Maybe you leave
because you long to know.
Maybe you leave
not because of longing <...
MARISA DONNELLY
You know that you won’t remain Centered all the time, and it is a normal part of human life to dri...
SHEILA BURKE
You know that you won’t remain Centered all the time, and it is a normal part of human life to dri...
SHEILA M. BURKE
Augustus: “You probably need some rest.”
Me: “I’m okay.”
Augustus: “Okay.” (...
JOHN GREEN
I’ll affect you slowly
as if you were having a picnic in a dream.
There will be no ants...
RICHARD BRAUTIGAN
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems o...
PABLO NERUDA
THE INVITATION
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a li...
ORIAH MOUNTAIN DREAMER
I was born the day you kissed me,
died the day you left me,
but lived for the time that yo...
ANJU
And I loved you
I loved you so
There were times
I forgot to breathe
Waiting ...
VERONIKA JENSEN
What happens when I love,
you ask, does the world start
making sense?
No, my dear,...
KAMAND KOJOURI
You didn’t think I’d let you go alone, did you?”
“No, but I’m grateful that I had you...
COLLEEN HOUCK
Georgie: I feel stupid.

Andrew: What are you talking about, you feel stupid? You just wal...
THERESA REBECK
Devereaux is going with our pitch.”
“Hey, that’s just great,” I said superperkily. “W...
MARIAN KEYES
You were you,
and I was I;
we were two
before our time.

I was yours
b...
LANG LEAV
To the most inconsiderate asshole of a friend,
I’m writing you this letter because I know tha...
CECELIA AHERN
Mencheres dropped his hands from my shoulders. “You know that’s what he wants. He’ll want to t...
JEANIENE FROST
I know
you and I
are not about poems or
other sentimental bullshit
but I have t...
CLEMENTINE VON RADICS
every mouth you’ve ever kissed
was just practice
all the bodies you’ve ever undressed<...
WARSAN SHIRE
6 months, 2 weeks, 4 days,
and I still don’t know which month it was then
or what day it...
CHARLOTTE ERIKSSON
...what do you want to know?
Usual stuff. Serious relationships, age, whether you eat babies. ...
ARDEN AOIDE
If only you would realize some day, how much have you hurt me,
If only your heart ever, craves ...
MEHEK BASSI
I sent a quick text to Adrian: I have a hickey! You can’t ever kiss me again. I honestly ha...
RICHELLE MEAD
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate...
PABLO NERUDA
Walk straight ahead
Listen to no one
Trust not in the walls or doorways
For they will...
RENéE PAULE
Life is more than love and pleasure,
I came to dig for treasure.
If you want to play, you ...
STEPHEN KING
You've never been in love?
Not even close.
And no ones ever in love with you?
Men always...
JAMES FREY
DON'T SAY, DO


Do not say things
You think I want to hear.
Instead,
S...
SUZY KASSEM
John’s voice cracked when he answered, and she could hear the pain seeping in no matter how hard h...
LORI RYAN
I am not the first person you loved.
You are not the first person I looked at
with a mouth...
CLEMENTINE VON RADICS
If you can’t find good in your own country, you won’t find it anywhere
else.”
The wo...
ALAA AL ASWANY
My mind is being consumed by you.
My body is longing for you.
Just one touch or a kiss, <...
KAMAND KOJOURI
I took her to bed with silk and song
'Lay still, my love, I won’t be long,
I must prepar...
ROMAN PAYNE
I’m sure you despise me,” she sobbed, looking up at him through tearful eyes.

“Desp...
DAN BROWN
Do you always ask me the same questions you ask him?"

"It depends on whether or not I get...
ANNE BISHOP
You said you didn’t care what I thought. Or what I did. Or if I died, if I’m not mistaken."
SARAH J. MAAS
She blew out a breath between gritted teeth. “Sometimes I really want to”—a frustrated sound�...
NALINI SINGH
Have you fallen in love, Will Henry?"

"That's stupid."

"What is? Love, or my ...
RICK YANCEY
The way you're singing in your sleep
The way you look before you leap
The strange illusion...
DAVID LEVITHAN
I can't say enough how important
is the spiritual life
to know God is with you all the ti...
PHIL MITCHELL
Did you know, the first time I saw you, I thought: I’ve never seen anything more captivating and b...
BECCA FITZPATRICK
What is MONEY? a piece of PAPER, a chunk of METAL or just some bits and bytes.
It’s been call...
HARMON OKINYO
How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to know you will be leaving soon. I thoug...
JUDITH JAMES
I want to see you.

Know your voice.

Recognize you when you
first come 'ro...
JALALUDDIN MEVLANA RUMI
Megan, I love you,. I will always love you."
I swallowed hard.
"Scared?" He asked.
"Y...
ELIZABETH CHANDLER
Change the world, I know I won’t,
Enthralling as always I hope it remains,
A kaleidoscop...
ANURAG ANAND
For as long as it takes for the sorrow and pain to transfer into acceptance. I’ll stay here. With ...
RACHEL VAN DYKEN
Dear Sixpence,

I saved them all, you know. Every letter you ever sent, even those to whic...
SARAH MACLEAN
i knew you
before
i met you.
i’ve known you my whole life.
NAYYIRAH WAHEED
The door is cracked

We used to meet
like water does land
no
not that
...
DAVE MATTHES
CHOCOLATE DAY POEM:
"Chocolate, dark or light..
Makes me smile bright.
Chocolate, whe...
VIKRMN
It's not that I couldn't love you more
I loved you in a way I thought you deserved
You th...
AMBY C. EZEM
The Awakening

I dreamed that I was a rose
That grew beside a lonely way,
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
I want to drag you off and hide you away,” he whispered.
“Why?”
“I always knew y...
ANN AGUIRRE
Song


You know that it is there, lair
where the bear ceases
for a time eve...
FRANK BIDART
Enough pain will keep you humble.
Enough grief will keep you compassionate.
Enough trouble...
MATSHONA DHLIWAYO
I cannot promise very much.
I give you the images I know.
Lie still with me and watch.
W...
ANNE SEXTON
Of everything I have seen,
it's you I want to go on seeing:
of everything I've touched, ...
PABLO NERUDA
i want to apologize to all the women i have called beautiful
before i’ve called them intellig...
RUPI KAUR
Can I say something?'
'Go on'
'I'm a little drunk'
'Me too. That's okay.'
'Just....
DAVID NICHOLLS
Start by pulling him out of the fire and
hoping that he will forget the smell.
He was supp...
CAITLYN SIEHL
I promise you
I will try harder
to be better.
I
have battled with things
...
TYLER KNOTT GREGSON
V was half way down the hall when he heard a yelp. He hightailed it back, barging through the door. ...
J.R. WARD
Where am I going to grow a garden in a penthouse?”
“Next time I visit I’ll fix you up a s...
CARROLL BRYANT
Every time you post something online, you have a choice.
You can either make it something that ...
ZOE SUGG
So what if you’re right? So what if you’re wrong?
In the end you might be surprised to fin...
RICHELLE E. GOODRICH
I am sitting far from you
A thousand miles away from you
I sit and write for you
A th...
AMIT ABRAHAM
You're so beautiful
But that's not why I love you
And I'm not sure you know
That t...
AVRIL LAVIGNE
"All alone!
Whether you like it or not,
alone is something you'll
be quite a lot"
DR. SEUSS
I’m passing the bar
Where you first got in my car
I’m not ashamed to admit
Tha...
CRYSTAL WOODS
1. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the things they read (or watch, or listen to, or tast...
JOHN SCALZI
Do you think they have ice cream here?” Lanie asked.

Kyle cocked his eyebrow, obviously...
M.K. SCHILLER
You are here and it hurts and the world feels impossibly heavy and you are shouting bargains at the ...
JEANETTE LEBLANC

More Warsan Shire

two people who were once very close can
without blame
or grand betrayal
become strang...
WARSAN SHIRE
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
a...
WARSAN SHIRE
It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not abou...
WARSAN SHIRE
Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself - what you’re wearing, who you’re aroun...
WARSAN SHIRE
His eyes were the same colour as the sea in a postcard someone sends you when they love you, but not...
WARSAN SHIRE
At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never h...
WARSAN SHIRE
My alone feels so good, I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude.
WARSAN SHIRE
all those nights with the phone warming the side of my face like the sun.
WARSAN SHIRE
give your daughters difficult names. give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. ...
WARSAN SHIRE
you can't make homes out of human beings
someone should have already told you that
WARSAN SHIRE
the year of letting go, of understanding loss. grace. of the word ‘no’ and also being able to sa...
WARSAN SHIRE
you are a horse running alone
and he tries to tame you
compares you to an impossible highw...
WARSAN SHIRE
every mouth you’ve ever kissed
was just practice
all the bodies you’ve ever undressed<...
WARSAN SHIRE
make love
like you have no
secrets
like you’ve
never been
left
nev...
WARSAN SHIRE
The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to...
WARSAN SHIRE
Your daughter is ugly.
She knows loss intimately,
carries whole cities in her belly.
...
WARSAN SHIRE
I want to lay down, but these countries are like uncles who touch you when you're young and asleep. ...
WARSAN SHIRE
We emotionally manipulated each other until we thought it was love.
WARSAN SHIRE
We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there.
WARSAN SHIRE
But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and e...
WARSAN SHIRE
Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving...
WARSAN SHIRE
If it’ll keep my heart soft, break my heart every day.
WARSAN SHIRE
your mouth is a lonely place but i keep coming back.
WARSAN SHIRE
I’m not sad, but the boys who are looking for sad girls always find me. I’m not a girl anymore a...
WARSAN SHIRE
how far have you walked for men who’ve never held your feet in their laps?
how often have you...
WARSAN SHIRE
Sad people have the gift of time, while the world dizzies everyone else; they remain stagnant, their...
WARSAN SHIRE
Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women, kitchen of love, bedroom of grief, bathroom of ...
WARSAN SHIRE
You want me to be a tragic backdrop so that you can appear to be illuminated, so that people can say...
WARSAN SHIRE
The only darkness we should allow into our lives is the night, for even then, we have the moon.
WARSAN SHIRE
Loving you was like going to war; I never came back the same.
WARSAN SHIRE
With you, intimacy colours my voice.
even ‘hello’ sounds like ‘come here'.
WARSAN SHIRE
I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes; on my face they are
still together.
WARSAN SHIRE
And were you being good to yourself?
i don’t think so. but, i forgive you, girl, who tallied ...
WARSAN SHIRE
I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
WARSAN SHIRE
all the girls you’ve ever loved, i think i loved them too.
interlude for the grand sonata
WARSAN SHIRE
The sun is perfect and you woke this morning. You have enough language in your mouth to be understoo...
WARSAN SHIRE
I know a few things to be true. I do not know where I am going, where I have come from is disappeari...
WARSAN SHIRE
I want to make love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
WARSAN SHIRE
all those nights with the phone warming the side of my face like the sun. you made jokes and sure, i...
WARSAN SHIRE
You think I’ll be the dark sky so you can be the star? I’ll swallow you whole.
WARSAN SHIRE
fit in here, in my palm, in my shadow, don’t be bigger than my idea of you, don’t be more beauti...
WARSAN SHIRE
for the fifth time this month
you say you’re going to leave him
he calls you a cunt over...
WARSAN SHIRE
You are terrifying and strange and beautiful, someone not everyone knows how to love.
WARSAN SHIRE
I could have lived off all the male careers in my family. Everybody was always getting ovations, but...
TALIA SHIRE
Our past is who we are, and death is one of our experiences. I lost my husband a long time ago, but ...
TALIA SHIRE
I have a feeling when I'm 80 years old I'm going to get a phone call: There's going to b...
TALIA SHIRE
I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
WARSON SHIRE