Rupi Kaur Quotes

more than anything
i want to save you
from myself ~ Rupi Kaur

i do not weep
becasuse I'm unhappy
i weep because I have everything
yet I'm unhappy ~ Rupi Kaur

i don't know what living a balanced life feels like
when i am sad
i don't cry i pour
when i am happy
i don't smile i glow
when i am angry
i don't yell i burn
the good thing about
feeling in extremes
is when i love
i give them wings
but perhaps
that isn't
such a good thing
cause they always
tend to leave and
you should see me
when my heart is broken
i don't grieve ~ Rupi Kaur

when you and i are off building something new with someone else ~ Rupi Kaur

i reached for the last bouquet of flowers you gave me now wilting in their vase one by one i popped their heads off and ate them ~ Rupi Kaur

love is knowing whom to choose ~ Rupi Kaur

you were not wrong for leaving
you were wrong for coming back
and thinking
you could have me
when it was convenient
and leave when it was not ~ Rupi Kaur

every time you tell your daughter you yell at her out of love you teach her to confuse anger with kindness which seems like a good idea till she grows up to trust men who hurt her cause they look so much like you - to fathers with daughters ~ Rupi Kaur

you look just like your mother

i guess i do carry her tenderness well

you both have the same eyes

cause we are both exhausted

and the hands

we share the same wilting fingers

but that rage your mother doesn't wear that rage

you're right
this rage is the one thing
i get from my father ~ Rupi Kaur

people say things
meant to rip you in half
but you hold the power to not
turn their words into a knife
and cut yourself ~ Rupi Kaur

I'd be lying if I said
you make me speechless
the truth is you make my
tongue so weak it forgets
what language to speak in. ~ Rupi Kaur

yes
it is possible
to hate and love someone
at the same time
i do it to myself
every day ~ Rupi Kaur

Upon my birth
My mother said
There is a god in you
Can you feel her dancing ~ Rupi Kaur

what terrifies me most is how we
foam at the mouth with envy
when others succeed
but sigh in relief
when they are failing

our struggle to
celebrate each other is
what's proven most difficult
in being human ~ Rupi Kaur

representation
is vital
otherwise the butterfly
surrounded by a group of moths
unable to see itself
will keep trying to become the moth
- representation ~ Rupi Kaur

the first boy that kissed me
held my shoulders down
like the handlebars of
the first bicycle
he ever rode
i was five

he had the smell of
starvation on his lips
which he picked up from
his father feasting on his mother at 4am

he was the first boy
to teach me my body was
for giving to those that wanted
that i should feel anything
less than whole

and my god
did I feel as empty
as his mother at 4:25am ~ Rupi Kaur

my heart woke me crying last night how can i help i begged my heart said write the book ~ Rupi Kaur

it is your blood
in my veins
tell me how i'm
supposed to forget ~ Rupi Kaur

i even tried to bury myself alive
but the dirt recoiled
you have already rotted it said
there is nothing left for me to do ~ Rupi Kaur

if I am the longest relationship
of my life
isn't it time to
nurture intimacy
and love
with the person
I lie in bed with each night ~ Rupi Kaur

when death
takes my hand
i will hold you with the other
and promise to find you
in every lifetime ~ Rupi Kaur

eyes like almonds deeply hooded with conviction ~ Rupi Kaur

how you love yourself is how you teach others to love you ~ Rupi Kaur

do not bother holding onto
that thing that does not want you

-you cannot make it stay ~ Rupi Kaur

you are the faint line between faith and blindly waiting - letter to my future lover ~ Rupi Kaur

a lot of times
we are angry at other people
for not doing what
we should have done for ourselves

-responsibility ~ Rupi Kaur

what i miss most is how you loved me. but what i didn't know was how you loved me had so much to do with the person i was. it was a reflection of everything i gave you. coming back to me. how did i not see that. how. did i sit here soaking in the idea that no one else would love me that way. when it was i that taught you. when it was i that showed you how to fill. the way i needed to be filled. how cruel i was to myself. giving you credit for my warmth simply because you had felt it. thinking it was you who gave me strength. wit. beauty. simply because you recognized it. as if i was already not these things before i met you. as if i did not remain all these things after you left. ~ Rupi Kaur

loneliness is a sign you were in desperate need of yourself ~ Rupi Kaur

i know it's hard
believe me
i know it feels like
tomorrow will never come
and today will be the most
difficult day to get through
but i swear you will get through
the hurt will pass
as it always does
if you give it time and
let it so let it
go
slowly
like a broken promise
let it go ~ Rupi Kaur

you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly

you will remain a dragon
long after he's left ~ Rupi Kaur

sometimes
i stop myself from
saying the words out loud
as if leaving my mouth too often
might wear them down

-i love you ~ Rupi Kaur

when the moon rises on this coast
but the sun still burns shamelessly on yours
i crumble knowing even our skies are different
- long distance ~ Rupi Kaur

If I knew what safety looked like, I would have spent less time falling into arms that were not ~ Rupi Kaur

my mother sacrificed her dreams
so i could dream ~ Rupi Kaur

you leave
but you don't stay gone
why do you do that
why do you
abandon the thing you want to keep
why do you linger
in a place you do not want to stay
why do you think it's okay to do both
go and return all at once ~ Rupi Kaur

If I am not the love of your life
I will be the greatest loss instead. ~ Rupi Kaur

i am confident i am over you. so much that some mornings i wake up with a smile on my face and my hands pressed together thanking the universe for pulling you out of me. thank god i cry. thank god you left. i would not be the empire i am today if you had stayed.

but then.

there are some nights i imagine what i might do if you showed up. how if you walked into the room this very second every awful thing you've ever done would be tossed out the closet window and all the love would rise up again. it would pour through my eyes as if it never really left in the first place. as if it's been practicing how to stay silent so long only so it could be this loud on your arrival. can someone explain that. how even when the love leaves. it doesn't leave. how even when i am so past you. i am so helplessly brought back to you. ~ Rupi Kaur

this place makes me
the kind of exhausted that has
nothing to do with sleep
and everything to do with
the people around me ~ Rupi Kaur

you must have known you were wrong when your fingers were dipped inside me searching for honey that would not come for you ~ Rupi Kaur

borders
are man-made
they only divide us physically
don't let them make us
turn on each other

- we are not enemies ~ Rupi Kaur

when you are broken
and he has left you
do not question
whether you were
enough
the problem was
you were so enough
he was not able to carry it ~ Rupi Kaur

The road to changing the world
Is never-ending
--pace yourself ~ Rupi Kaur

nothing is safer
than the sound of you
reading out loud to me

-the perfect date ~ Rupi Kaur

what if you split the world into pieces
and called them countries
declared ownership on what never belonged to you
and left the rest with nothing ~ Rupi Kaur

love is understanding we have the power to hurt one another but we are going to do everything in our power to make sure we don't ~ Rupi Kaur

i don't know why
i split myself open
for others knowing
sewing myself up
hurts this much
afterwards ~ Rupi Kaur

i woke up thinking the work was done
i would not have to practise today
how naive to think healing was that easy
when there is no end point
no finish line to cross
healing is everyday work ~ Rupi Kaur

you are not a cannibal
your actions are not my responsibility
you will control yourself

"The Art of Growing ~ Rupi Kaur

i have
what i have
and i am happy

i've lost
what i've lost
and i am
still
happy

- outlook ~ Rupi Kaur

you
have been
taught your legs
are a pitstop for men
that need a place to rest
a vacancy, body empty enough
for guests cause no one
ever comes and is
willing to
stay ~ Rupi Kaur

what's the greatest lesson a woman should learn?

that since day one. she's already had everything
she needs within herself. it's the world that
convinced her she did not. ~ Rupi Kaur

I had to leave
I was tired of allowing you make me feel anything less than whole. ~ Rupi Kaur

the one who arrives after you will remind me love is supposed to be soft he will taste like the poetry i wish i could write ~ Rupi Kaur

when it came to listening
my mother taught me silence
if you are drowning their voice with yours
how will you hear them she asked
when it came to speaking
she said do it with commitment
every word you say
is your own responsibility
when it came to being
she said be tender and tough at once
you need to be vulnerable to live fully
but rough enough to survive it all
when it came to choosing
she asked me to be thankful
for the choices i had that
she never had the privilege of making
- lessons from mumma ~ Rupi Kaur

don't mistake
salt for sugar
if he wants to
be with you
he will
it's that simple ~ Rupi Kaur

how is it so easy for you
to be kind to people he askedmilk and honey dripped
from my lips as i answered cause people have not
been kind to me ~ Rupi Kaur

when you plunged the knife into me
you also began bleeding
my wound became your wound
didn't you know
love is a double-edged knife
you will suffer the way you make me suffer ~ Rupi Kaur

to heal
you have to
get to the root
of the wound
and kiss it all the way up ~ Rupi Kaur

your body is a museum of natural disasters can you grasp how stunning that is ~ Rupi Kaur

be tender and tough all at once
you need to be vulnerable to live fully
but rough enough to survive it all ~ Rupi Kaur

so how dare you mock your mother when she opens her mouth and broken english spills out / don't be ashamed of the fact that she split through countries to be here so you wouldn't have to cross a shoreline ~ Rupi Kaur

the thing worth holding on to would not have let go ~ Rupi Kaur

you have to stop searching for why at some point you have to leave it alone ~ Rupi Kaur

loneliness is a sign you re in desperate need of yourself ~ Rupi Kaur

i don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. sometimes i stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention. i come from the same aching blood. from the same bone so desperate for attention i collapse in on myself. i am your daughter. i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way i know how to tell you. ~ Rupi Kaur

Your voice alone drives me to tears. ~ Rupi Kaur

You wrap your fingers around my hair and pull. This is how you make music out of me. ~ Rupi Kaur

the night after you left
i woke up so broken
the only place to put the pieces
were the bags under my eyes ~ Rupi Kaur

they have no idea what it's like
to lose home at the risk of
never finding home again
to have your entire life
split between two lands and
become the bridge between two countries ~ Rupi Kaur

there are mountains growing
beneath our feet
that cannot be contained
all we've endured
has prepared us for this
bring your hammer and fists
we have a glass ceiling to shatter ~ Rupi Kaur

take the compliment
do not shy away from
another thing that belongs to you ~ Rupi Kaur

let's find our own sun. grow our own flowers. the universe delivered us with the light and the seeds. we might not hear it at times but the music is always on. it just needs to be turned louder. for as long as there is breath in our lungs - we must keep dancing. ~ Rupi Kaur

she is not a porn category
or the type you look for
on a friday night
she is not needy or easy or weak
-daddy issues is not a punch line ~ Rupi Kaur

you deserve to be completely found in your surroundings not lost within them ~ Rupi Kaur

i want to honeymoon myself ~ Rupi Kaur

It is a blessing to be the color of earth
do you know how often flowers confuse me for home ~ Rupi Kaur

the next time you
have your coffee black
you'll taste the bitter state he left you in
it will make you weep
but you'll never
stop drinking
you'd rather have the
darkest parts of him
than have nothing ~ Rupi Kaur

you're everywhere
except right here
and it hurts ~ Rupi Kaur

the rape will
tear you
in half

but it
will not
end you ~ Rupi Kaur

Like your mouth has the gift of reading and I'm your favorite book. Find your favorite page in the soft spot between my legs and read it carefully. Fluently. Vividly. Don't you dare leave a single word untouched. And I swear my ending will be so good. ~ Rupi Kaur

I came all this way to give you all these things but you aren't even looking. ~ Rupi Kaur

you were the most beautiful thing i'd ever felt till now. and i was convinced you'd remain the most beautiful thing i'd ever feel. do you know how limiting that is. to think at such a ripe young age i'd experienced the most exhilarating person i'd ever meet. how i'd spend the rest of my life just settling. to think i'd tasted the rawest form of honey and everything else would be refined and synthetic. that nothing else would be refined and synthetic. that nothing beyond this point would add up. that all the years beyond me could not combine themselves to be sweeter than you.

- falsehood ~ Rupi Kaur

i am sending my love to your eyes. may they always see goodness in people. and may you always practice kindness. may we see each other as one. may we be nothing short of in love with everything the universe has to offer. and may we always stay grounded. rooted. our feet planted firmly onto the earth. ~ Rupi Kaur

love does not look like a person
love is our actions
love is giving all we can
even if it's just the bigger slice of cake
love is understanding
we have the power to hurt one another
but we are going to do everything in our power to make sure we don't
love is fighting out all the kind sweetness we deserve
and when someone shows up
saying they will provide it as you do
but their actions seem to break you
rather than build you
love is knowing whom to choose ~ Rupi Kaur

look at what they've done
the earth cried to the moon
they've turned me into one entire bruise

- green and blue ~ Rupi Kaur

you look like you smell of
honey and no pain
let me have a taste of that ~ Rupi Kaur

accept yourself as you were designed ~ Rupi Kaur

our work should equip
the next generation of women
to outdo us in every field
this is the legacy we'll leave behind

-progress ~ Rupi Kaur

the way you speak of yourself
the way you degrade yourself
into smallness
is abuse

-self-harm ~ Rupi Kaur

he only whispers i love you as he slips his hands down the waistband of your pants. this is where you must understand the difference between want and need - you may want that boy but you certainly don't need him ~ Rupi Kaur

something about the phrase - something about
how i have to be unlike the women
i call sisters in order to be wanted
makes me want to spit your tongue out ~ Rupi Kaur

the idea that we are
so capable of love
but still choose
to be toxic ~ Rupi Kaur

neither of us is happy
but neither of us wants to leave
so we keep breaking one another
and calling it love ~ Rupi Kaur

you ask
if we can still be friends
i explain how a honeybee
does not dream kissing
the mouth of a flower
and then settle for its leaves ~ Rupi Kaur

you treat them like they
have a heart like yours
but not everyone can be as
soft and as tender

you don't see the
person they are
you see the person
they have the potential to be

you give and give till
they pull everything out of you
and leave you empty. ~ Rupi Kaur

you must enter a relationship with yourself before anyone else ~ Rupi Kaur

we have been dying
since we got here
and forget to enjoy the view

- live fully ~ Rupi Kaur

of course i want to be successful
but i don't crave success for me
i need to be successful to gain
enough milk and honey
to help those around
me succeed ~ Rupi Kaur

I understand this world broke you. It has been so hard on your feet. I don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. Sometimes I stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention. I come from the same aching blood. From the same bone so desperate for attention I collapse in on myself. I am your daughter. I know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. Cause it's the only way I know how to tell you. ~ Rupi Kaur

we might not hear it at times but the music is always on. it just need to turned louder. ~ Rupi Kaur