40 Famous Bell Hooks Quotes On Love, Feminism & More
Last updated on January 5th, 2024 at 12:01 pm
“bell hooks, Samuel R Delany, M Lamar, and Marci Blackman” by “Alex Lozupone (Tduk)“, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Gloria Jean Watkins is an author, activist, and lecturer. She wrote under the pen name bell hooks, a small tribute to her great-grandmother’s name. She opted to put her pen name in lowercase characters to draw attention to her words rather than herself. Hooks’ work mainly focused on feminism, gender and race intersectionality, capitalism, and classism in society.
Bell Hooks published almost 30 books, leaving a legacy of profound words on suffering, love, equality, and other topics. “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism”, her book, is a significant contribution to the feminist movement. Sojourner Truth, Paulo Freire, James Baldwin, Erich Fromm, and many other notable figures influenced her greatly.
We have curated a list of some famous Bell Hooks quotes. We hope these will inspire you.
Bell Hooks Love Quotes
Bell Hooks preached the idea that love is a combination of care, compassion, commitment and respect. She believed that trust is the foundation of love. Here are some Bell Hooks quotes about love.
“When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other.”
BELL HOOKS
“True love is a different story. When it happens, individuals usually feel in touch with each other’s core identity.”
BELL HOOKS
“Individuals who want to believe that there is no fulfillment in love, that true love does not exist, cling to these assumptions because this despair is actually easier to face than the reality that love is a real fact of life but is absent from their lives.”
BELL HOOKS
“To know love we have to invest time and commitment…’dreaming that love will save us, solve all our problems or provide a steady state of bliss or security only keeps us stuck in wishful fantasy, undermining the real power of the love — which is to transform us.”
BELL HOOKS
“Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.”
BELL HOOKS
SOURCE: TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING: PRACTICAL WISDOM
SOURCE: OUTLAW CULTURE: RESISTING REPRESENTATIONS
“Of all the definitions of love that abound in our universe, a special favorite of mine is…“the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
BELL HOOKS
“Since loving is about knowing, we have more meaningful love relationships when we know each other and it takes time to know each other.”
BELL HOOKS
SOURCE: INTERVIEW
“The word “love” is most often defined as a noun, yet all the more astute theorists of love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb.”
BELL HOOKS
“But love is really more of an interactive process. It’s about what we do not just what we feel. It’s a verb, not a noun.”
BELL HOOKS
Bell Hooks Feminism Quotes
Most of Hooks’ writing revolves around feminism. Her work significantly impacted people all over the world. Read on to these Bell Hooks quotes about feminism.
“Feminism is for everybody.”
BELL HOOKS
SOURCE: FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
“Radical militant feminist believes that women of color and Black women, in particular, have written the cutting edge theory and really were the individuals who exploded feminist theory into the directions that has made it more powerful.”
BELL HOOKS
“So, I see us as the leaders not just of Black people and Black women in terms of feminism but in terms of the movement as a whole.”
BELL HOOKS
“Feminism as a theoretical enterprise is approached differently by Black women depending on where we are.”
BELL HOOKS
“Power feminism is just another scam in which women get to play patriarchs and pretend that the power we seek and gain liberates us.”
BELL HOOKS
“I still think it’s important for people to have a sharp, ongoing critique of marriage in patriarchal society — because once you marry within a society that remains patriarchal, no matter how alternative you want to be within your unit, there is still a culture outside you that will impose many, many values on you whether you want them to or not.”
BELL HOOKS
“Feminist effort to end patriarchal domination should be of primary concern precisely because it insists on the eradication of exploitation and oppression in the family context and in all other intimate relationships.”
BELL HOOKS
“Sexism has never rendered women powerless. It has either suppressed their strength or exploited it.”
BELL HOOKS
Bell Hooks Quotes On Self-Love
Bell Hooks believed in the idea that everyone should love themselves first. Her thoughts helped many people to instil a sense of self-love in them. Browse through these bell hooks quotes on self-love.
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving.”
BELL HOOKS
“When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
BELL HOOKS
“If I were really asked to define myself, I wouldn’t start with race; I wouldn’t start with blackness; I wouldn’t start with gender; I wouldn’t start with feminism. I would start with stripping down to what fundamentally informs my life, which is that I’m a seeker on the path.”
BELL HOOKS
“The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood on that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others.”
BELL HOOKS
“I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.”
BELL HOOKS
“In an ideal world, we would all learn in childhood to love ourselves.”
BELL HOOKS
“We would grow, being secure in our worth and value, spreading love wherever we went, letting our light shine.”
BELL HOOKS
“If we did not learn self-love in our youth, there is still hope.”
BELL HOOKS
All About Love Bell Hooks Quotes
“All About Love” is the celebrated first volume of feminist icon Bell Hooks’ “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy. It explains why society is so polarised and how to repair the divisions that lead to pain. Here are some famous Bell Hooks quotes from the book.
“When we face pain in relationships our first response is often to sever bonds rather than to maintain commitment.”
BELL HOOKS
SOURCE: ALL ABOUT LOVE
“The wounded child inside many males is a boy who, when he first spoke his truths, was silenced by paternal sadism, by a patriarchal world that did not want him to claim his true feelings.”
BELL HOOKS
“Lies may make people feel better, but they do not help them to know love.”
BELL HOOKS
“The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control.”
BELL HOOKS
“Individuals who want to believe that there is no fulfillment in love, that true love does not exist, cling to these assumptions because this despair is actually easier to face than the reality that love is a real fact of life but is absent from their lives.”
BELL HOOKS
“A generous heart is always open, always ready to receive our going and coming.”
BELL HOOKS
“Abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love.”
BELL HOOKS
“No one can rightfully claim to be loving when behaving abusively.”
BELL HOOKS
“Our hearts connect with lots of folks in a lifetime but most of us will go to our graves with no experience of true love.”
BELL HOOKS
Bell Hooks stand out because authors rarely lowercase their names in publications. Her grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks, inspired hooks’ pen name. Her solid and honest work has cleared the way for constructive change worldwide. Hooks has been dubbed a pioneer of intersectional feminism and a vocal proponent of self-love.
Let us know which one of these Bell Hooks quotes is your favorite. You can also check out these 39 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes About Life, Love & More!
Naveen Kumar
Naveen Kumar is a writer and has a thing for collecting quotes and sharing them with people. Naveen is a space enthusiast. When he is not spreading good vibes or motivating people through quotes, you can find him sipping coffee while reading classic literature or on a long road drive.
