Miriam Quotes

Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart.

The conqueror writes history, they came, they conquered and they write. You don't expect the people who came to invade us to tell the truth about us.

Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.

I kept my culture. I kept the music of my roots. Through my music I became this voice and image of Africa and the people without even realising.

Age is getting to know all the ways the world turns, so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want, you can at least get out of the way so you won't get run over.

There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die-hope, determination, and song.

Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them

I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.

I do not sing politics. I merely sing the truth.

A true teacher does not terrorize ignorant students, because a true teacher knows that it is his job to cure ignorance.

I eat death threats for breakfast!

If given a choice, I would have certainly selected to be what I am: one of the oppressed instead of one of the oppressors.

Age is wisdom if one has lived ones life properly.

I have one thing in common with the emerging black nations of Africa: We both have voices, and we are discovering what we can do with them.

Is it wrong to trust in a beautiful lie if it helps you get through life?

I look at an ant and I see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit.

For instance, we're always fighting amongst each other. Who gives us the arms? And then we become indebted to wherever we are buying them from - with what? The very resources we need to keep there.

I'm not a politician; I am a singer. Long ago, they said, 'That one, she sings politics.' I don't sing politics; I merely sing the truth.

I will probably die singing.

African music, though very old, is always being rediscovered in the West.

You are damned and praised, or encouraged or discouraged by those who listen to you, and those who come to applaud you. And to me, those people are very important.

I learned another thing, which is that just because someone is eating the ashes of your protagonist doesn't mean you stop telling the story.

I question the negative connotations of fabric, of ribbon, of lace. I turn these symbols of our imprisonment around.

Handbags, I don't at all like them because they occupy my hands. My hands always have to be ready in case I need to slap somebody.

English was good enough for Jesus Christ and it's good enough for the children of Texas.

But if you are going to wear blinders then you do not know the world.

When someone told me, 'Ang ganda mo' I answered 'Sana ikaw rin.'

There are no windows within the dark house of depression through which to see others, only mirrors.

I am not afraid of death threats, but I am appalled that so many people are capable of so much wrong spelling and fractured grammar!

I shall be honored to go to jail. Under a dictatorship, the detention cell is a place of honor.

The results of philanthropy are always beyond calculation.

Conversing with children is a fine art.... An art form that demands large amounts of both honesty and misdirection. Or maybe discretion is a better word.

Leadership is knowing what you want and making it happen.

If you were to survey celebrated women, with every step toward real success there came a baby.

When I can't sleep, I don't count sheep. I count lovers. And by the time I reach 38 or 39, I'm asleep.

It was the first time that we had sort of articulated our major problem. She wanted to die and I wanted her to live and we were enemies who loved each other.

How can a motion picture reflect real life when it is made by people who are living artificial lives?

I'm not really a practising Jew but I keep a kosher kitchen just to spite Hitler.

Her faith in a loving and forgiving God is strong, but she worships laughter.

Hindi naman ako mataba eh. In fact I'm so sexy that it overflows.

It's only very recently that women have succeeded in entering those professions which, as Muses, they typified for the Greeks

In the mind, in the heart, I was always home. I always imagined, really, going back home.

It’s hard to grieve in a town where everything that happens is God’s will. It’s hard to know what to do with your emptiness when you’re not supposed to have emptiness.

If it's truly a passion and it's truly something you believe in, then you need to do it.

You can't just wait for everybody to give you approval - you will just be waiting.

So many people are paralyzed by worrying, "What are these people going to think?"

I will jump headfirst from a helicopter in Luneta if Estrada gets removed from power.

I have realized why corrupt politicians do nothing to improve the quality of public school education. They are terrified of educated voters.

I look at the past and I see myself.

And I believe that it becomes a troubled continent because there are those who must always cause confusion so that we do not keep these natural resources.