Gloria D. Gonsalves Quotes

Life at home is at a pace which allows you to appreciate what it has to offer. Simultaneously you get a chance to reflect on what you wish from it. Our development also goes at the same pace, which is not something that everyone appreciates.

Those trying moments teach us to desire greatness in ourselves and wider humanity.

Give yourself a break from any holy book; and
start looking at others as you want to be looked at.

Many years ago, I left my home country very narrow minded. Today I return with an educated mind, able to understand why my culture is as it is and still be very proud of it.

Everyone these days is concerned so much with privacy and forgets the value of human touch. We still need each other but are scared of how it might sound or appear to the other.

Do not fear to find yourself among strangers.

If a lion can growl, why shouldn't a man cry?

There's a thin boundary between the light and dark side. Both are fervent to reign in the space of the other.

My role is to be a light, shine bright and create sparks.

The mind is your guard, the heart is your maid and the soul is your territory. Nobody else but you should have the control of these.

It is unwise to offer a cake if offered a muffin.

Poetry is not difficult. If you possess one of the five senses, poetry is in it. If you can compose text message, tweet or Facebook status, you can write poetry. If you can rap a song, you can rhyme poetry. If you can memorise a prayer, you can recite poetry. If you struggle to make sense of formatted text, poetry is your call.

I am also open minded to embrace strange notions and respect its bearers without harsh judgement. Exposure has made me feel confident and wiser to choose what feels right for me, in order to be the best human being for myself and others.

I see no difference between a genius and a loony, they both speak a language that I find strange.

Nobody is perfect. We all want to be loved just like anyone else. It is not wrong to keep faith on someone whose life is not according to our standards. The faith we hold on them is called loving by example. The love we give can be in different forms. Yours might be a distant one, mine might be a close one. Together, we still keep the love.

Did you ever ask yourself if each one of us pursued a high educational degree, who would do the skilled manual work? Craftsmanship may not earn us the money we want but that does not mean we should scorn on anyone doing it. We are obliged to be respectful and grateful to anyone using their hands to clean our households, trim our hedges,carpentry our furniture, farm our food, crafts the objects we collect and gift, style our hairs, etc. Next time you encounter a crafts person acknowledge their manual competence.

We should all celebrate the magnitude of diverse and unique souls that live in our world today, for it is an essence that makes our lives colourful every single
day.

You can choose to create a drama and get what you acted for or remain silent and get what you planned for.

Sometimes this sentence "I am praying for you" can be so dishonest and lowering that there are occasions I have looked up in heaven and asked God, "please don't accept that prayer".

Home is where the heart unveils.

She is a woman, how can you confuse her for a man?

This is the sinking woman
whose soul touched the ocean and
caused it to storm kisses.

Poetry is –
raw feelings as sunny summer,
fiery turmoil as vibrant autumn,
daunting revelation as stormy winter,
intrepid hope as blooming spring.

I do not condemn either the rich or the poor, but the consequences of these two.

My thick and full lips shall pout their African ancestry until all sorrows are kissed out of me.

Poetry rhymes, a song our souls need to nourish upon. Poetry is a drum, a sound our bodies wish to have. Poetry is organized, a reading our eyes wish to view. Poetry is refined, a structure our moral selves seek. Poetry is civil, instigating the world to remain sane. Poetry is not ordinary, but it needs the ordinary eyes to continue to be the interesting art form of expression. Poetry is like a child communicating, who later grows to be an adult communicating in prose.

Let people come to their own conclusions, even if it means watching them make mistakes. That way they may grow and you won't be imposing.

If an opportunity does not knock why not build a door?

If I believe in humanity and all that encompasses it including being kind and respectful of others, then I hereby declare that my love extends to gay, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.

Gender is not only women and sexual orientation has multiple choices.

To get pure love one has to distil the heart.

You are not the problem but fashion designers, who are limiting themselves creatively.

Creativity occurs in introverted space. Instead of considering those who seek solitude as anti-social, weird and non-team players, let's learn to respect this gift which allows us to have a self worthy of sharing.

Then I saw his kind eyes, a comfort I desired. Then I saw his height, a knight I needed by my side. Then I saw his body, a man I surrendered to.

No matter what justification you have for your feelings, you cannot wish harmful things on others.

In my book, everything considered immoral, foolish and unhealthy is fine in moderate measurements.

Why dwell on yesterday's pee when you can make a fresh one today?

I refuse to behave fraudulently, as if I was anything else but African.

A badly written novel can always be shortened to a poem.

Never let ideas of love make you forget to stand on your own feet.

The joy of comradeship in this foreign land has been killed by silence and overprotection of personal space. I miss the chaos around me for it makes me realise that I am amidst life and alive.

A mother has two hands but performs jobs of many arms. You will never be able to do the impossible until you realise what your mother did.

If you are looking for a perfect woman, she does not reside here, you will find only me.

Love me until Venus gasps with envy.
Love me again until Eros swears celibacy.

You don't have to be famous or rich to do a good deed. No matter how small it may seem, each kind deed sends a rippling action of kindness to humanity. Whether it is donating, helping the donor to implement or ensuring the donation recipients are treated right, each one of us has a role in philanthropy.

She refuses to support the slogan - Men are equal to women - if this translates to her femininity being faded out or confused by trying to please a selfish idea of anyone wanting a woman to be both herself and a man.

There is so much beauty in different women – thin, big, normal, tall, short, medium, long hair, short hair, etc. Only narrow-mindedness can define it all in one woman.

The past has taught me that any heart has immeasurable capacity to love, no matter how many times it has been broken. Now I choose to love as hard as I can and without reservations.

A foolish mind would not raise an eyebrow when things are done diff erently in a foreign culture. An educated mind would try to understand the meaning of it all.

To eat Ugali is an art of adventure in itself. Forget cutlery because all you need is your lovely fingers.

I had rather be a mind provocateur than a celebrity because thoughts dwell longer in a person than a designer dress borrowed for one night.

As a writer, the main skill you need is curiosity. As a reader, the main tool you need is open-mindedness.

At times we are the worst racist enemies of our black selves.

There are days when one feels not like being out there – it's ok go ahead and hibernate. There are days when one wants to give affection – trust me there are many ways to do that and plenty of people wanting it. There are days when one wants to feel it's ok to have needs – please don't hide who you are. There are days when one feels like nobody understands you – it's ok to play a low key and watch life quietly.
There are days when one feels like is giving more than receiving – take a step back to refuel yourself, ask for help and simply stop for a breather.
There are days when one feels like not sharing – share to give others a chance to know you.

The moans made with pleasure during love making become much louder with displeasure during separation.

May the economic discrimination you impose on your own people bloat your mind. That polluted rubbish occupying
your mind-set needs to be swept clean. May the disgusted look you impose on those you judge poor burn your eyes.
That evil look occupying your clear vision needs to land in the bin. May that shameful attitude you impose on those you wish to feel lesser bring your soul to restlessness. That fake character you display needs to be thrown out of the window.

May you grow to be a fearless and proud accepting-self human.

Anyone capable of training the heart is a walking zombie.

Dear teachers, please make reading and writing fun. Reading and writing shouldn't be a punishment while in school. I ask you to create and teach two electives: "Reading for Pleasure" and "Writing for Pleasure".

There is nothing wrong for a man to be in the kitchen and cook. There is nothing wrong for a man to like flowers. There is nothing wrong for a man to carry a baby. There is nothing wrong for a man to do house chores. There is nothing wrong for a man to visit a beauty salon. But there is something wrong if anyone of us feels it is not right for him to do any of these.

I aspire to be an inspirer, not a mentor. As such it would be fulfilling to know that someone read what I wrote and tailored it creatively to serve positively their divine purpose.

Have you ever entered a kitchen to find a woman, her legs crossed while the rest of her body is dressed in colourful khanga, smiling at you while her hands are making a melodious song with a coconut grater? Have you ever wondered how any woman size can fit on that grater regardless of their body size? The time for wondering is over. East Africa heartily welcomes you to see for yourself. Go and visit it.

My lips swelled with red freshness, my chest heaved proudly with a pair of pointed African drums, my face tempted with its sweetness like Kilimanjaro waters and my height spoke a language only a Maasai warrior knew.

To be a woman is not a weakness.

Praise your God in a silent and humbly manner instead of rubbing his back with loud praises while silently committing horrendous acts.

Writing as a creative art flourishes only when there are no rules. Rules stifle you from entering the silent and forbidden spaces where the core of the story is waiting to be revealed.

Being poor is neither history nor permanent but a status. Writers who begin with this sentence "X is a poorest country in the world," to describe any African country are lacking intelligence. How would they feel if we turned the tables and used sentences that portray historical offenses committed to other countries? I bet nobody would like to read, "X is a country that killed millions of Y during Z's regime.

Sometimes one day at a time is too much. Try one moment at a time.

The man upstairs can take it when we are mad. Swear all you want he can handle it. But do not remember God or whatever almighty force you believe in just when things go wrong. I am sure he would want to know it too when you are happy. The same goes for your friends. Don't dump on them just bad stuff but also share your happiness with them too.

I have learned that love is not a button which you can switch it on when wonderfully sizzling and switch off when heart broken. When you love you cannot put a past tense to it because if you do then it was never love in the first place. But if love was there, then it persists in different forms such as mutual respect but never hatred.

Maturity and wisdom become us, when we appreciate people from our past.

The moment of honouring our humanity is now.

You will experience a lot of imaginings as usually is for humans although we tend to pretend that all our thoughts are septic and moral. Feel
comfortable with your thoughts. Trust me dear child, no human is spared from wild thoughts and you too will have them. Nothing should limit you my child. But the minute you decide to speak out your thinking or live them, you should be ready for the consequences too.