"I think the essence of romantic love for women is being the special one, and that's an absolutely terrible trap. If the lover treats certain other people badly, you will be treated that badly, too."

"The genius of any slave system is found in the dynamics which isolate slaves from each other, obscure the reality of a common condition, and make united rebellion against the oppressor inconceivable."

"The female life-force is characterized as a negative one: we are defined as inherently masochistic. [. . .] Sexual masochism actualizes female negativity, just as sexual sadism actualizes male positivity. A woman’s erotic femininity is measured by the degree to which she needs to be hurt, needs to be possessed, needs to be abused, needs to submit, needs to be beaten, needs to be humiliated, needs to be degraded."

"I represent the morbid side of the women's movement. I deal with the shit, the real shit."

"Romantic love, in pornography as in life, is the mythic celebration of female negation. For a woman, love is defined as her willingness to submit to her own annihilation.... The proof of love is that she is willing to be destroyed by the one whom she loves, for his sake. For the woman, love is always self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of identity, will, and bodily integrity, in order to fulfill and redeem the masculinity of her lover."

"A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a disc jockey, or a crummy mediocre politician. A man can be a hero because he suffers and despairs; or because he thinks logically and analytically; or because he is "sensitive"; or because he is cruel. Wealth establishes a man as a hero, and so does poverty. Virtually any circumstance in a man's life will make him a hero to some group of people and has a mythic rendering in the culture—in literature, art, theater, or the daily newspapers."

"For a mother the project of raising a boy is the most fulfilling project she can hope for. She can watch him, as a child, play the games she was not allowed to play; she can invest in him her ideas, aspirations, ambitions, and values—or whatever she has left of them; she can watch her son, who came from her flesh and whose life was sustained by her work and devotion, embody her in the world. So while the project of raising a boy is fraught with ambivalence and leads inevitably to bitterness, it is the only project that allows a woman to be—to be through her son, to live through her son."

"The fact that we are all trained to be mothers from infancy on means that we are all trained to devote our lives to men, whether they are our sons or not; that we are all trained to force other women to exemplify the lack of qualities which characterizes the cultural construct of femininity."

"By the time we are women, fear is as familiar to us as air. It is our element. We live in it, we inhale it, we exhale it, and most of the time we do not even notice it. Instead of "I am afraid", we say, "I don't want to", or "I don't know how", or "I can't.""

"Seductive mirages of progress notwithstanding, nowhere in the world is apartheid practiced with more cruelty and finality than in Saudi Arabia. Of course, it is women who are locked in and kept out, exiled to invisibility and object powerlessness within their own country. It is women who are degraded systematically from birth to early death, utterly and total and without exception deprived of freedom. It is women who are sold into marriage or concubinage, often before puberty; killed if their hymens are not intact on the wedding night; kept confined, ignorant, pregnant, poor, without choice or recourse. It is women who are raped and beaten with full sanction of the law. It is women who cannot own property or work for a living or determine in any way the circumstances of their own lives. It is women who are subject to a despotism that knows no restraint. Women, locked out and locked in. Mr Carter, enchanted with his good friends, the Saudis. Mr Carter, a sincere advocate of human rights. Sometimes even a feminist with a realistic knowledge of male hypocrisy and a strong stomach cannot believe the world she lives in."

"Under patriarchy, every woman's son is her potential betrayer and also the inevitable rapist or exploiter of another woman."

"While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called theory, or idea, or fact."

"Being an actress doesn't make you popular in school. I was always leaving to make a movie then coming back in."

"You need your family in this business. It's one of the most important things to keep you grounded. You come home and your mom's like, "Clean the kitty's litter box." It's not like it's all about me."

"It's important to me that I don't get trapped in the whole teen scene because I feel that you can get lost in those kind of movies, and they aren't really about the actors; they're about the selling of the concept, and how much money it makes. So I just try to choose the scripts that have the best characters for myself, or would be the most challenging, or fun."

"I saw my first Henry Darger collage/paintings in the early 1980’s when the tale of Henry’s life was just emerging through rumor and scattered fragments of his book. He lived and died a recluse in Chicago where no one knew of his writings or paintings. There was a folk art gallery in New Orleans that had acquired a small pile of Realms of the Unreal illustrations. I was on tour with REM at the time, Michael Stipe and I visited the gallery where we had a first look at these images of seven little horrified girls pursued by a purple and orange winged cats or evil professors on horseback or resting peacefully under giant sunflowers. I was completely captivated and intrigued."

"who will draw the calvary in risk his very own precious skin to make our Angelinia a free and peaceful land again? Henry who'll love a poor orphan child? Henry Darger"

"who'll save the poor little girl? oh, Henry... who'll tell the story of her? Henry Darger"

"once I came close to that most elusive fire burning with hopeless love and desire but it was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing I could do"

"once I was open, could hope, I had no doubt but that was the worst thing that I could do"

"once I could love, I could trust, I could not doubt but that was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing that I could do"

"motherland cradle me close my eyes lullaby me to sleep keep me safe lie with me stay beside me don't go, don't you go"

"take one last look behind commit this to memory and mind don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place when you leave keep your heart off your sleeve"

"where in hell can you go far from the things that you know far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day?"

"who do you believe? who will you listen to who will it be? it's high time that you decide in your own mind"

"they told you life is hard it's misery from the start it's dull and slow and painful I tell you life is sweet in spite of the misery there's so much more be grateful"

"I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave with love and tenderness I want to thank you I want to thank you for your generosity the love and the honesty that you gave me"

"you've been so kind and generous I don't know how you keep on giving for your kindness I'm in debt to you for your selflessness, my admiration and for everything you've done you know I'm bound... I'm bound to thank you for it"

"I need a lullaby a kiss goodnight angel sweet love of my life o, I need this"

"o, I need the darkness the sweetness the sadness the weakness I need this"

"contempt loves the silence it thrives in the dark with fine winding tendrils that strangle the heart they say that promises sweeten the blow but I don't need them no, I don't need them"

"your face saving promises whispered like prayers I don't need them"

"take a look at my body look at my hands there's so much here that I don't understand"

"don't spread the discontent don't spread the lies don't make the same mistakes with your own life"

"people ruthless, people cruel see the damage that some people do full of hatred, full of pride it's enough to make you lose your mind"

"I know that it will hurt I know that it will break your heart the way things are and the way they've been and the way they've always been"

"people struggle, people fight for the simple pleasures in their lives but trouble comes from everywhere it's a little more than you can bear"

"Ophelia's mind went wandering you'd wonder where she'd gone through secret doors down corridors she'd wander them alone"

"Ophelia was a cyclone, tempest a god damned hurricane your common sense your best defense lay wasted and in vain"

"Ophelia was a circus queen the female cannonball projected through five flaming hoops to wild and shocked applause..."

"Ophelia was a bride of god a novice Carmelite in sister cells the cloister bells tolled on her wedding night"

"o, I believe fate smiled and destiny laughed as she came to my cradle know this child will be able laughed as she came to my mother know this child will not suffer laughed as my body she lifted know this child will be gifted with love, with patience and with faith she'll make her way"

"people see me I'm a challenge to your balance I'm over your heads how I confound you and astound you"

"newspapers ask intimate questions want confessions they reach into my head to steal the glory of my story"

"doctors have come from distant cities just to see me stand over my bed disbelieving what they're seeing they say I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation and as far as they can see they can offer no explanation"

"have I been blind have I been lost inside myself and my own mind hypnotized mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?"

"I've walked these streets in the mad house asylum they can be where a wild eyed misfit prophet on a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me"

"So their eyes are growing hazy 'cause they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy Well, hey, give 'em what they want"

"If lust and hate is the candy if blood and love tastes so sweet then we give 'em what they want Hey, hey, give 'em what they want"

"these days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face and when you do you'll know how it was meant to be see the signs and know their meaning"