Bell Hooks Quotes

I couldn't stand the idea of bloodshed, casualties.

When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.

Have you ever thought that war is a madhouse and that everyone in the war is a patient?

I don't know if it matters what country you're from, size of the city you're from, urban or rural, there are people that are hurting each other everywhere.

When you see a 14-year-old boy who has never known what peace looks like for a day in his life, there's part of you as a human being that feels some degree, you can say, compassion for the fact that these boys have known war, famine, violence and death from the day they were born.

Never mind a world that can't see past brutality.

I grew up around a lot of aggressive guys. My parents used to take me to AA meetings when I was very young. So I know aggression, I know insanity.

And this I hate—not men, nor flag nor race, But only War with its wild, grinning face.

There are worse things than war.

My dad was a violent alcoholic. Really aggressive.

There's enough dismemberment going on in the world without writing music about it.

Anyone who commits an act of violence to themselves or others is worth consideration in the sense that there must be something that brought them to that point, whether it's a mental health issue or otherwise.

I think there are so many children being brought up in some form of violence, be it violence of poverty or sexism or racism or homophobia or transphobia. That violence takes a life to transform or overcome. I don't think people should be spending their lives dealing with that. I think people should be thriving, playing, creating, evolving.

Killing makes me feel good.

Man hurts man, time and time again. As we drown in the wake of our power, somebody tell me why?

Kill if you must, but never hate: Man is but grass and hate is blight, The sun will scorch you soon or late, Die wholesome then, since you must fight

Violence commands both literature and life, and violence is always crude and distorted.

The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.

I think it is a mistake to focus - as we most often do - only on the sacrifice of life that war requires. War also requires that we sacrifice our normal unwillingness to kill.

To me, Columbine is just as awful as Vietnam, and it's just as awful as anything else.

The problem to me is violence. It's not cool to kill somebody or hurt people.

What is our vision on this earth - war to the end of all generations and life by the sword?

I really hated fighting people and hurting them, but felt unable to stop.

Anorexia taught me to love life and to realise that starving yourself to death is a bloody waste of time. It's awful, and it hurts so many people around you. It's a terribly selfish thing to do.

There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.