250 Best Amanda Gorman Quotes: Inspiring Poet (2023)

1. “The single greatest challenge of our era is to transform without wrath, war, or wariness.”

2. “Poetry is always at the pulse of the most dangerous and the most daring questions that a nation, or a world, might face. ”

3. “The thing that I learned is that as much as I pull from these topics, there is always a parallel to nature in my poetry. ”

4. “Anxiety is a living body, Poised beside us like a shadow. It is the last creature standing, The only beast who loves us Enough to stay.”

5. “Always remember that What happened to us Happened through us. ”- Amanda Gorman

6. “Most of my life I was particularly terrified of speaking up, because I had a speech impediment, which made it difficult to pronounce certain letters, sounds, and I felt like I was fine writing on the page, but once I got on stage, I was worried my words might jumble and stumble.” Amanda Gorman

7. “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. ”

8. “Some days, we just need a place Where we can bleed in peace. ”- Amanda Gorman

9. “For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. ”- Amanda Gorman

10. “When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.

11. “For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude. Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it. So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain. Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it. ”

12. “The only way to correctly predict

13. “Like a page, we are only legible when opened to one another. ”- Amanda Gorman

14. “If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.”

15. “To hone my voice, I read everything, from books to cereal boxes, three times; once for fun, the second time to learn something new about the writing craft, and the third time was to improve that piece. ”

16. “My Instagram doesn’t cover my insecurities, my lack of self-confidence, that week I spent crying… there’s a question of whether I should be sharing that online.” Amanda Gorman

17. “Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

18. “The Spanish Influenza did not originate in Spain. In fact the first recorded case was in the United States, in Kansas, on March 9th, 1918. Beware the Ides of March. But because Spain was neutral in World War I, it did not sensor reports of the disease to the public. To tell the truth then, is to risk being remembered by its fiction. Countless countries laid blame to one another. What the US called the Spanish Influenza, Spain called the French Flu, or the Naples Soldier. What Germans dubbed the Russian Pest, the Russians called Chinese Flu.”

19. “It’s said that ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is this: a vine that sneaks up a tree, killing not by poison, but by blocking out its light. ”- Amanda Gorman

20. “You don’t have to be a poet, you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future.” - Amanda Gorman

21. “By Goodbye, we truly mean: Let us be able to say hello again.” Amanda Gorman

22. “Change is made of choices, & choices are made of character.”

23. You can use these around your classroom to inspire your students, or as bookmarks, links to topics, and as part of displays throughout the year. The bundle comes in several different designs and colorways to suit your classroom decor theme. - Minimal - Earth Tones- RainbowIncluded in this bundle are quotes from 18 Influential Peop

24. “One of the foundations of education is to develop critical, informed, compassionate citizens because we think that’s fundamental to democracy. And we think that democracy doesn’t work unless children are educated and they understand various perspectives.”

25. “What contributed to my writing early on is how my mom encouraged it. She kept the TV off because she wanted my siblings and I to be engaged and active. So we made forts, put on plays, musicals, and I wrote like crazy. ”

26. “Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. ”

27. “We are the good news that we have been looking for,

28. “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.”

29. “I think sometimes our terror is a great kind of flag to symbolize a type of love or greatness. The fact that I was so afraid, that I knew there was a reason that I was tapping into every well of courage that I had to show up into that space. Because the space needed to be revisited; that space needed to be revamped and it needed to be reconciled with. And I thought one of the few and also most fervent ways we have to do that is with poems.”

30. “Sometimes, we must call our monster out from under the bed to see he/she/it carries our face. ”- Amanda Gorman

31. “I’m so glad you brought up the last line, hope isn’t something that we ask of others, it’s something that we have to demand from ourselves. ”

32. “While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered. The question isn’t if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together. ” – Amanda Gorman

33. “The new dawn blooms as we free it,

34. “There is no better compass than compassion.”

35. “When you’re someone who’s lived a life where certain resources were scarce, you always feel like abundance is forbidden fruit.” Amanda Gorman

36. “We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.”

37. “If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all of the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it. ”

38. “I think we run into issues when our online brands are not rooted in who we are, and I think we need to have explicit discussions with ourselves about who we want to be, what we want to represent, and how we want to express that. ” – Amanda Gorman

39. “Every day, we write the future. Together, we sign it. Together, we declare it. We share it. For this truth marches on. Inside each of us. ”

40. “Thinking about the ways that people are judging me as I write about being judged, and how does that, for all of us, become a title that we kind of carry around and that we wear. ”

41. “While we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared in its inception, we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter.”

42. “There is power in being robbed

43. “Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid. ”

44. “My Instagram doesn’t cover my insecurities, my lack of self-confidence, that week I spent crying—there’s a question of whether I should be sharing that online. ”

45. “In everything you write, write something that is brave enough to be hopeful. ” – Amanda Gorman

46. “It’s said that ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is this: a vine that sneaks up a tree, killing not by poison, but by blocking out its light.”

47. “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace. ”- Amanda Gorman

48. “The great responsibility I feel is to get people to put that power and that hope in themselves.”

49. “There is always light.

50. “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us”

51. “I have to interweave my poetry with purpose. For me, that purpose is to help people, and to shed a light on issues that have far too long been in the darkness. ”

52. “Change is made of choices,

53. “You don’t have to be a poet, you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future. ”

54. “In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, History has its eyes on us. ”- Amanda Gorman

55. “Every day, we write the future. Together, we sign it. Together, we declare it. We share it. For this truth marches on. Inside each of us.”

56. “Please. Do not ask us who we are. The hardest part of grief / Is giving it a name. ” – Amanda Gorman

57. “Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. ” – Amanda Gorman

58. “Hear me as a woman

59. “Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

60. “That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried. ” – Amanda Gorman

61. “Poke the scar until it speaks. This is how every memory starts. ”- Amanda Gorman

62. “In everything you write, write something that is brave enough to be hopeful. In everything that you write, write something that is larger than yourself.”

63. “I’m not going to in any way gloss over what we’ve seen over the past few weeks and, dare I say, the past few years, but what I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal. ”

64. “I have to interweave my poetry with purpose. For me, that purpose is to help people, and to shed a light on issues that have far too long been in the darkness.” Amanda Gorman

65. “We’re living in an important moment in Black art because we’re living in an important moment in Black life. ”

66. “Loss is the cost of loving”- Amanda Gorman

67. “Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

68. “Loss is the cost of loving”

69. “There is power in being robbed & still choosing to dance. ”- Amanda Gorman

70. “Whenever I listen to songs, I rewrite them in my head. ”

71. “For a long time, I looked at it as a weakness. Now I really look at it as a strength because going through that process, it made me a writer, for one, because I had to find a form in which I could communicate other than through my mouth, and two, when I was brave enough to try to take those words from the page onto the stage, I brought with me this understanding of the complexity of sound, pronunciation, emphasis. ”

72. “The great responsibility I feel is to get people to put that power and that hope in themselves.” — Amanda Gorman quote, to TIME

73. “I’m a student at Harvard University, and currently work as the United States Youth Poet Laureate, a community organizer, and an activist. ”

74. “we know our inaction and inertia

75. “I can hear change humming

76. “The only approval you need is your own. ”

77. “One of the most rewarding moments of my career is when I’m speaking to a child who tells me they have the same speech impediment that I had to overcome and that they’re going to keep writing or sharing their voice after hearing my story. ”

78. “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.”

79. “What contributed to my writing early on is how my mom encouraged it. She kept the TV off because she wanted my siblings and I to be engaged and active. So we made forts, put on plays, musicals, and I wrote like crazy. ” – Amanda Gorman

80. “The type of leadership that I like to participate in really leans into my femininity. Things like empathy, compassion, listening, tenderness, sharing power — you risk being called ‘too emotional,’ but I like to lean into those characteristics because we need to see more of that in the world.”

81. “When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing. In testing times, we became the best of things.”

82. “Since the world is round

83. “That is the promised glade, The hill we climb, if only we dare it: Because being American is more than a pride we inherit— It’s the past we step into, and how we repair it.”

84. “I love Black poets. I love that as a Black girl, I get to participate in that legacy. So that’s Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, Tracy K. Smith, Phillis Wheatley. ”

85. “Hear me as a woman. Have me as your sister. On purpled battlefield breaking day, So I might say our victory is just beginning, See me as change, Say I am movement, That I am the year, and I am the era of the women. ”

86. “Quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.”

87. “Since the world is round / There is no way to walk away / From each other, for even then / We are coming back together. ” – Amanda Gorman

88. “I have to interweave my poetry with purpose. For me, that purpose is to help people, and to shed a light on issues that have far too long been in the darkness.”

89. “While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered. The question isn’t if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together. ”

90. “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. ”

91. “We write Because you might listen. ”- Amanda Gorman

92. “Our scars are the brightest Parts of us. ”- Amanda Gorman

93. “I saw tens of thousands of women sharing their pain on the internet and I decided to write this piece, ‘Sestina for my Sisters. ’ For me, it was a way to play with shape, play with this poetic form with a topic that felt raw and changing in a way that this structure is not. ”

94. “There is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to BE it.”

95. “There is power in being robbed & still choosing to dance.”

96. “By Goodbye, we truly mean:

97. “I think we run into issues when our online brands are not rooted in who we are, and I think we need to have explicit discussions with ourselves about who we want to be, what we want to represent, and how we want to express that. ”

98. “Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for.”

99. “Every day, we write the future / Together, we sign it / Together, we declare it / We share it / For this truth marches on / Inside each of us.”-Believer’s Hymn for the Republic

100. “We do not hope for no reason.

101. “We do not hope for no reason. Hope is the reason for itself.” — Amanda Gorman Quote

102. “Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.”

103. “So while once we asked how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert: How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be.”

104. “We are desperate to flatten the curve. Oh, how we miss curving into each other. ”- Amanda Gorman

105. “Know what we’ve fought

106. “Remember Michelle Obama being close, and she kind of kept yelling at Barack, ‘Stop hugging people, stop getting close to people,’ and then when I was done, she kind of pushed him out the way and gave me just the biggest, warmest Michelle Obama hug. ”

107. “There is no better compass than compassion.” Amanda Gorman

108. “We've learned that quiet isn't always peace.”

109. “We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be; a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. ”

110. “We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one. ”

111. “We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour. But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, To offer hope and laughter to ourselves”

112. “The only way to correctly predict The future is to pave it, Is to brave it. ”- Amanda Gorman

113. “We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be; a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. ” – Amanda Gorman

114. “Remember clearly – The best way is with poems.”

115. “To tell the truth, then, is to risk

116. “I was writing since I can remember—I just didn’t know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career. ” – Amanda Gorman

117. “Only when we’re drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick.” Amanda Gorman

118. “While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered.

119. “I’m learning that ‘No’ is a complete sentence. And I am reminding myself that this isn’t a competition. It’s me following the trajectory of the life I was meant to lead.”

120. “For me, I think that socially, we don’t encourage boys to be men, we encourage them to become monsters.”

121. “Maybe everything hurts,

122. “Let each dawn find us courageous, brought closer, heeding the lights before the fight is over. ” – Amanda Gorman

123. “Poetry has never been the language of barriers; it’s always been the language of bridges.” Amanda Gorman

124. “This is a long, long, faraway goal, but 2036 I am running for office to be president of the United States. So you can put that in your iCloud calendar.” Amanda Gorman

125. “The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising.”

126. “Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed A nation that isn’t broken, but simply

127. “One of the most rewarding moments of my career is when I’m speaking to a child who tells me they have the same speech impediment that I had to overcome and that they’re going to keep writing or sharing their voice after hearing my story. ” – Amanda Gorman

128. “When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds when you have to be highly concerned about pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience. ”

129. “There is always a light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. ”- Amanda Gorman

130. “Being American is more than a pride we inherit; it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.” (The Hill We Climb Quotes)

131. “We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.”

132. “Whenever I listen to songs, I rewrite them in my head. ” – Amanda Gorman

133. “Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished. ”

134. “May we not just grieve, but give. May we not just ache, but act.”

135. “We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. ”

136. “The only approval you need is your own.”

137. “It isn’t knowing, but remembering, that makes us create. ”- Amanda

138. “Like light, we can’t be broken, even when we bend. ”- Amanda Gorman

139. “Speaking in public as a Black girl is already daunting enough, just coming on stage with my dark skin and my hair and my race—that in itself is inviting a type of people that have not often been welcomed or celebrated in the public sphere. ”

140. “You don't have to be a poet, you don't have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future.”

141. “You know, time’s up, in itself, is poetic. Sure, it means time’s up on men who abuse their power, but on a broader scale, it speaks to a much longer and expansive time that dominated.”

142. “All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before

143. “One of the preparations that I do always whenever I perform is I say a mantra to myself, which is ‘I’m the daughter of black writers. We’re descended from freedom fighters who broke through chains and changed the world. They call me.’ And that is the way in which I prepare myself for the duty that needs to get done.” Amanda Gorman

144. “It’s no coincidence that at the base of the Statue of Liberty, there is a poem. Our instinct is to turn to poetry when we’re looking to communicate a spirit that is larger than ourselves. ”

145. “For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

146. “Poetry is – it’s an art form, but, to me, it’s also a weapon, it’s also an instrument. It’s the ability to make ideas that have been known, felt and said. And that’s a real, I think, type of duty for the poet.” Amanda Gorman

147. “If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and changes our children’s birthright. ”

148. “Unity that actually moves us toward the future means that we accept our differences—we embrace them and we lean into that diversity. ”

149. “When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing. ” – Amanda Gorman

150. “Only when we’re drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick. ”- Amanda Gorman

151. “Words, too, are a type of combat, for we always become what we refuse to say. ”- Amanda Gorman

152. “There is always a light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

153. “To be kept to the edges of existence is the inheritance of the marginalized. ”- Amanda Gorman

154. “our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

155. “There is no better compass than compassion. ”- Amanda Gorman

156. “Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.”

157. “We don’t need a gown.

158. “Poetry, and art in general, means showing up with your best self. And whoever that may be, that in and of itself is beautiful. The more that we can bring our authentic selves, with hope, into the moment the more that moment will show up for us. ”

159. “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

160. “Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music. Know that this distance will make our hearts grow fonder. ‘From a wave of woes, our world will emerge stronger. ” – Amanda Gorman

161. “Take a knee to make a stand. ”- Amanda Gorman

162. “When day comes, we ask ourselves:

163. “It's said that ignorance is bliss.

164. “Shall this leave us bitter? Or better? Grieve. Then choose. ”- Amanda Gorman

165. “As a public poet, people often don’t see the reality of my life.”

166. “You know, time’s up, in itself, is poetic. Sure, it means time’s up on men who abuse their power, but on a broader scale, it speaks to a much longer and expansive time that dominated. ”

167. “Since the world is round, There is no way to walk away From each other, for even then We are coming back together. ”- Amanda Gorman

168. “All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried beforeFor it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for.” — Amanda Gorman

169. “For me, I think that socially, we don’t encourage boys to be men, we encourage them to become monsters. ”

170. “Because we believe that the education should always be meaningful, relevant and connected. And we believe that kids need to be able to make sense of what’s going on in the world.”

171. “If we merge mercy with might, and might

172. “Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for. ” – Amanda Gorman

173. “There is no such thing as gentle war.

174. “Please. Do not ask us who we are. The hardest part of grief Is giving it a name. ”- Amanda Gorman

175. “The norms and notions of what “just is’ isn’t always “justice”. ”- Amanda Gorman

176. “That is the promised glade,

177. “You don’t have to be a poet, you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. ” – Amanda Gorman

178. “Perhaps pain is like a name, made to sing just for you. ”- Amanda Gorman

179. “There is power in being robbed and still choosing to dance.” Amanda Gorman

180. “We lay down our arms

181. “It’s said that ignorance is bliss.

182. “You really have to crown yourself with the belief that what I’m about and what I’m here for is way beyond this moment. ”

183. “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.” Amanda Gorman

184. “This is a long, long, faraway goal, but 2036, I am running for office to be president of the United States.”

185. “Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished. ”- Amanda Gorman

186. “Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tire, we try.”

187. “We were told to never use I when writing, because eliminating this voice makes arguments legitimate. But we realize there is nothing that convinces like the self does — our life, our body & its beating, proving its own jagged point. Tell me what is more powerful than the unerased.”

188. “Above all, love — love very much. If love could cure.”

189. “For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude,

190. “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” — Amanda Gorman

191. “Change is made of choices, & choices are made of character. ”- Amanda Gorman

192. “You really have to crown yourself with the belief that what I’m about and what I’m here for is way beyond this moment.”

193. “Amanda Gorman” by “GPA Photo Archive“, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0

194. “Love is justified by loving.”

195. “Change is made of choices, & choices are made of character. ” – Amanda Gorman

196. “Contrary to popular belief, it’s not easy for us to lie. Even the body has tells, even our blood runs toward truth. ”- Amanda Gorman

197. “I was writing since I can remember—I just didn’t know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career. ”

198. “Whenever I meet Michelle, I hope that she forgets meeting me because I just want a do-over—I just want to do it right this time, but she always remembers, and she’s always great. And when I hug her, I’m so short my forehead is, like, in her belly button. ”

199. “We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man, and so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.”

200. “Would we crave peace

201. “In everything you write, write something that is brave enough to be hopeful. In everything that you write, write something that is larger than yourself. ”

202. “My speech impediment wasn’t a stutter but it was dropping several letters that I just could not say for several years, most specifically the ‘r’ sound. ”

203. “But as for the future, I foresee a world which is more creative, more open, more loving, more ecologically friendly, more honest about its history and progress, and I think a lot of those contributions will be made by young people.” Amanda Gorman

204. “I was obsessed with everything and anything; I wanted to learn everything, to read everything, to do everything. I was constantly on sensory overload. I’d hoard dozens of books in my second-grade cubby, and literally try to read two at a time, side by side. ” – Amanda Gorman

205. “I was obsessed with everything and anything; I wanted to learn everything, to read everything, to do everything. I was constantly on sensory overload. I’d hoard dozens of books in my second-grade cubby, and literally try to read two at a time, side by side. ”

206. “Sestina is a really great pathway for that because you really focus on form and less so about the horrors of feeling the pain of that trauma. ”

207. “If we stay silent, you’re not only a traitor to your gender but a traitor to yourself and your own story. So, it’s how can women, particularly women of color, remain true to their truth and their stories, with so many impediments, literal and metaphorical speech. ”

208. “There is always light. Only if we are brave enough to see it. There is always light. Only if we are brave enough to be it. ”

209. “To love one another just may be the fight of our lives.”

210. “Whenever I listen to songs, I rewrite them in my head.”

211. “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. ”

212. “To tell the truth, then, is to risk being remembered by its fiction. ”- Amanda Gorman

213. “We were told to never use I when writing, because eliminating this voice makes arguments legitimate. But we realize there is nothing that convinces like the self does - our life, our body & its beating, proving it's own jagged point. Tell me what is more powerful than the unerased.”

214. “I’m learning that ‘No’ is a complete sentence. And I am reminding myself that this isn’t a competition. It’s me following the trajectory of the life I was meant to lead. ”

215. “Poetry is always at the pulse of the most dangerous and the most daring questions that a nation, or a world, might face.”

216. “If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade. But in all the bridges we’ve made, that is the promise to glade, the hill we climb. ”

217. “The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising. ”- Amanda Gorman

218. “Laden with what we’ve lost,

219. “I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me. ”

220. “Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music. Know that this distance will make our hearts grow fonder. ‘From a wave of woes, our world will emerge stronger. ’”

221. “The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising.” Amanda Gorman

222. “That’s kind of the challenging thing about writing an inaugural poem. You’re speaking to everyone, but you don’t also want to speak for everyone.” Amanda Gorman

223. “Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for. ”

224. “Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.”

225. “It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. ”

226. “The oration of poetry, I consider to be its own art form and tradition.”

227. “You don’t have to be a poet; you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future.” Amanda Gorman

228. “The first bud of spring sings the other seeds into joining her uprising.

229. “When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing. In testing times, we became the best of things. ”

230. “Poetry has never been the language of barriers, it’s always been the language of bridges.”

231. “We do not hope for no reason. Hope is the reason for itself.”

232. “Words matter, for

233. “Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music. Know that this distance will make our hearts grow fonder.” From a wave of woes our world will emerge stronger.”

234. “Anxiety is a living body, Poised beside us like a shadow. It is the last creature standing, The only beast who loves us Enough to stay.” Amanda Gorman

235. “We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.”

236. “We are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none, and harmony for all.”

237. “Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true; that even as we grieved, we grew; that even as we hurt, we hoped; that even as we tired, we tried. ”

238. “Only when we're drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick.”

239. “Our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid. ”

240. “Poetry is—it’s an art form, but, to me, it’s also a weapon, it’s also an instrument. It’s the ability to make ideas that have been known, felt, and said. And that’s a real, I think, type of duty for the poet. ”

241. “We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour. But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves. ”

242. “The question isn't if we can weather this unknown,

243. “As a young, Black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen. ”

244. “I don’t want it to be something that becomes a cage, where to be a successful Black girl, you have to be Amanda Gorman and go to Harvard. I want someone to eventually disrupt the model I have established. ”

245. “The thing that I learned is that as much as I pull from these topics, there is always a parallel to nature in my poetry.”

246. “While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered. The question’s not if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together.”- The Miracle of Morning

247. “If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, Then love becomes our legacy, And change, our children’s birthright. ”- Amanda Gorman

248. “Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for.” Amanda Gorman

249. “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace. ” – Amanda Gorman

250. “For Black women, there’s also the politics of respectability—despite our best attempts, we are criticized for never being put together enough; but when we do, we’re too showy. ”

251. “I’m learning that I am not lightning that strikes once. I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon.”

252. “Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change. ”

253. “To me, unity without a sense of justice, equality, and fairness is just toxic mob mentality. ”

254. “This is a long, long, faraway goal, but 2036, I am running for office to be president of the United States. ”

255. “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” 

256. “I’m so glad you brought up the last line, hope isn’t something that we ask of others, it’s something that we have to demand from ourselves.”

257. “I’m learning that I am not lightning that strikes once. I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon. ”

258. “It wasn’t until I was named Youth Poet Laureate of L. A. in high school though that I officially began calling myself a poet. I just always loved writing, period. ”

259. “When you’re someone who’s lived a life where certain resources were scarce, you always feel like abundance is forbidden fruit. ”