Sharon Olds Quotes

We have never wrapped ourselves up in our own world thinking we are the only people who know what is doing. We listen to other things and see what we would like and what would suit us.

If I could tell every Trump supporter two things, it would be to travel and read a history book. Look beyond yourselves; look at how petty the morals you uphold seem when you realize we are not the only ones.

If someone's different from you and it scares you or makes you mad, that's God telling you to take a closer look. If you're scared or mad, that's about you, not about the person who scares you or angers you.

For me, literature is a way of enlarging myself by learning about people who are not like me.

I realized through my personal travels how little I know about certain conflicts, because I was too vain or self-absorbed to ask the questions. That's been the focus while I'm in my thirties - to become an accomplished woman, rather than some actress.

As an actor, you come in contact with so many different people and cultures. It makes you a more accepting person.

I think it's important to look at the world as a bigger place than just the bubble that we live in. It's so easy to get caught up in things of a trivial nature.

Trying to imagine what it's like to be someone else is never a substitute for actually living that way, for acknowledging the respect that we need to have for each other's experiences.

What I do is I always try to educate myself about my neighbors, about the people I meet.

I'd never presume to understand what it's like to be in a community I've never been a part of, but I can show up, listen and learn.

Part of our job as storytellers is to show people pockets of the world that they don't know. The more we understand, the more we don't judge.

I wholeheartedly believe that travel leads to open minds and contributes to a better cultural understanding and acceptance of people from around the world.

I think, look, you have to be aware of the language, and you have to be aware a little bit of your own biases if you're going to overcome them.

You take something from your past that you're somewhat ashamed about and you write about it from another character's point of view.

I've worked really, really hard on myself to not be judgmental.

Poems give you the lives of others and then circle in on your own inner world.

I'm a very understanding person. That's something I was raised to be aware of - not everybody has the same shoes to fill or walks the same way or is on the same path.

I can't write about your pain; I only know my own.

All my life, I will continue obstinately to write about love, solitude and passion among the kind of people I know. The rest don't interest me.

All I know is that every time I go to Africa, I am shaken to my core.

I have given up the idea that there is an opposition-free church out there. But I have gained something else - an appreciation for the gift of opposition. When it comes, I learn something about my motives. When it comes, I get to test my courage.

I think that part of being a good journalist, part of being an awake member of the world you're in, is to view yourself as an outsider, and I always have, to some degree.

Each time I write a new piece, whether a novel, a picture book, a speech or anything, really, it has so much to do with what I'm going through personally or a problem I'm trying to work out. When I wrote my novel 'Baby,' my three children had all just gone out the door.

This is what I tell my students: step outside of your tiny little world. Step inside of the tiny little world of somebody else. And then do it again and do it again and do it again. And suddenly, all these tiny little worlds, they come together in this complex web. And they build a big, complex world.

I'm interested in having a relationship with the world that's not my own.