Ani DiFranco

"I love all those great 'f' words - feminism, folk music.."

"In any marginalized community, whether people identify themselves or not affects us all."

"I believe in that step of not just making revolutionary music but making it in a way that challenges the system, Especially in this day and age when the tools for producing and distributing are more and more accessible to the average Joe and Josephine. The possibility of emancipation and control and independence is so much greater now."

"I think I'm done gunnin to get closer. To some imagined bliss. I gotta knuckle down. And just be ok with this."

"There's this brutal imperial power, that my passport says I represent. But it will never represent where my heart lives, only vaguely where it went."

"I don't always feel lucky, but I'm smart enough to try."

"Every tool is a weapon - if you hold it right."

"They're gonna be mad at us. They're gonna be mad at me and you. They're gonna be mad at us and all the things we wanna do."

"I used to be a superhero. No one could touch me, not even myself. You are like a phone booth that I somehow stumbled into, And now look at me, I am just like everybody else."

"I am still praying for revolution."

"Some of life's best lessons are learned at the worst times."

"Because the world owes me nothing And we owe each other the world."

"I am writing graffiti on your body. I am drawing the story of how hard we tried."

"Somedays the line I walk turns out to be straight - Other days the line tends to deviate."

"And their eyes are all asking Are you in or are you out? And I think, oh man What is this about? Tonight you can't put me Up on any shelf Cuz I came here alone And I'm gonna leave by myself."

"They say that the truth will set you free But then again, so will a lie... It depends if you're trying to get to the promised land Or if you're just trying to get by."

"I’m going to go ahead and go boldly Cuz a little bird told me That jumping is easy That falling is fun Right up ‘til you hit the sidewalk Shivering and stunned."

"So we're led by denial like lambs to the slaughter Serving empires of style and carbonated sugar water And the old farm road's a four-lane that leads to the mall And our dreams are all guillotines waiting to fall."

"My distraction's my defense against this lack of inspiration Against this slow deflation Yeah the further the horizon The more it holds my gaze The foreground's out of focus but you know I kinda hope it's just a phase Just a phase."

"They can call me crazy if I fail All the chance that I need Is one in a million And they can call me brilliant If I succeed…"

"The windows of my soul are made of one way glass Don't bother looking into my eyes If there's something you want to know - just ask."

"Because I know the biggest crime Is just to throw up your hands And say "This has nothing to do with me, I just want to live as comfortably as I can."

"You've got your whole life to do something, And that's not very long. So why don't you give me a call When you're willing to fight For what you think is real, For what you think is right."

"Girl, next time he wants to know What your problem is Next time he wants to know Where the anger comes from Just tell him this time the problem's his Tell him the anger just comes It just comes."

"And God help you if you are a phoenix, and you dare to rise up from the ash. A thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy, while you're just flying past."

"Now let's get talking: reefer madness. Like some arrogant government can't, By any stretch of the imagination, outlaw a plant."

"So I walk like I'm on a mission cuz that's the way I groove. I got more and more to do, I got less and less to prove. It took me too long to realize that I don't take good pictures Cuz I have the kind of beauty that moves."

"And we hold these truths to be self-evident: Number one-- George W. Bush is not president. Number two-- America is not a true democracy. And, Number three-- the media is not fooling me."

"Now I wonder who is gonna be president: Tweedle Dumb, or Tweedle Dumber-- And who is gonna have the big block buster box office this summer."

"Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep-- But nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep. Maybe you just had the worst day of your life; Well, you know, there's no escape. That's no excuse. Just suck up and be nice."

"My country tis of thee, To take swings at each other on talk-show TV."

"Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there. You know it doesn't seem fair, That I'm living for something I can't even define. And there you are right there, in the mean time."

"My thighs have been involved in many accidents, And now I can't get insured, And I don't need to be lured by you. My cunt is built like a wound that won't heal, And now you don't have to ask Because you know how I feel."

"So my heart finally broke. It was so long bent. And it broke in three places when it finally went. It wanted only to say what it meant. So it suffered every punishment."

"'Course numb is an old hat, old as my oldest memories. See that one's my mother, and that one's my father, and that one in the hat, that's me. It's a skill I'd hoped to abandon, when I got out on the open road, But any more pent up emotion and I think I'm gonna explode."

"And I was shocked to see the mistakes of each generation will just fade like a radio station, if we drive out of range."

"If you're not angry, you're just stupid, or you don't care."

"There's a crowd of people harbored in every person, there are so many roles that we play. And you've decided to love me for eternity. I'm still deciding who I want to be today""

"Let's grow old and die together. Let's do it now."

"When I need to wipe my face, I use the back of my hand, And I like to take up space just because I can, And I use my dress to wipe up my drink. I care less and less what people think."

"So I’ll walk the plank and I’ll jump with a smile. If I’m gonna go down, I’m gonna do it with style, and you won't see me surrender, you won't hear me confess, 'Cuz you've left me with nothing, but i've worked with less."

"You know Taken out of context I must Seem so strange."

"And everything seems to have gone terribly wrong that can. But one breath at a time is an acceptable plan, She tells herself."

"My life may not be something special But it's never been lived before."

"We discovered we are both pleasantly furious half of the time, When we're not just toeing the line."

"I was blessed with a birth and a death, and I guess I just want some say in-between."

"Freedom and democracy, That's the word from Washington every day. Put America to sleep with warm milk and clichés, And people are expendable along the way."

"They put you in your place, and they tell you to behave But no one can be free until we're all on even grade."

"Life is a b movie. It's stupid and it's strange, A directionless story, And the dialogue is lame. But in the he said, she said, Sometimes there's some poetry, If you turn your back long enough, And let it happen naturally."

"I fight with love, and I laugh with rage. You've gotta live light enough to see the humor, And long enough to see some change."