Sue Monk Kidd Quotes

Powerful Sue Monk Kidd for Daily Growth

About Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd, born on April 10, 1948, in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, is an American novelist and memoirist who has captivated readers worldwide with her evocative storytelling and profound exploration of femininity and spirituality. Raised in a large, close-knit family in the South, Kidd's childhood experiences inscribed a deep affection for nature, Southern culture, and women's stories within her. After attending the University of Pittsburg on a full scholarship, she later earned a Master's degree in English from the University of South Carolina. Kidd spent much of her early career as a travel guide, using her knowledge to explore the world and immerse herself in diverse cultures. In 1982, Kidd married Bert Kidd, with whom she had three children. The family moved frequently due to her husband's military service. These nomadic years would later serve as inspiration for her novel "The Secret Life of Bees." Published in 2002, "The Secret Life of Bees" catapulted Kidd into literary stardom. The story centers around a young girl named Lily, growing up in the segregated South and seeking solace within an African American family of beekeepers. The novel, steeped in Southern Gothic tradition, became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a feature film. In 2009, Kidd published "The Invention of Wings," a historical novel inspired by the life of abolitionist and women's rights activist, Sarah Grimke. This poignant tale follows two sisters—one a slave, the other a free woman bound by social expectations—and their shared journey towards self-discovery and freedom. Today, Sue Monk Kidd continues to write, captivating readers with her lyrical prose and powerful female protagonists. Her works serve as a testament to the transformative power of storytelling and women's voices, resonating deeply within contemporary conversations about femininity, race, and spirituality.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I'm always startled by how much courage and resilience live inside each of us."

This quote emphasizes the inherent strength and adaptability within every individual. Often, we underestimate our capacity for courage and resilience, but in times of challenge or adversity, these qualities emerge. The sentiment encourages self-discovery and reminds us that despite appearances, we possess inner resources to face life's obstacles and overcome them.

"The world is a living entity; it has its own spirit and soul."

This quote suggests that Sue Monk Kidd views the world not just as an inanimate collection of objects, but as a dynamic, living being with a spirit or soul of its own. It implies that the world is more than what we can see; it has an essence, a life force, and a deeper meaning that transcends physical reality. This perspective encourages us to respect and care for the world as we would any other living entity, recognizing our interconnectedness and our role in its preservation.

"She who follows the narrow way finds the universe on her left and right, above and below, and she is at the center of it all."

This quote suggests that the person who chooses a straightforward, honest path in life (the "narrow way") will find themselves surrounded by the vastness of the universe, not just physically but also spiritually. They will perceive the cosmos within their left and right, above and below, indicating an expansive understanding and connection to the world around them. Being at the center implies a sense of self-awareness and balance, suggesting that they are deeply connected to their inner selves and to the cosmic energy that permeates everything in existence.

"Within each of us there is a private, secret compass that no one can ever calculate but nature."

This quote suggests that every individual carries an inherent inner wisdom or intuition, unique to themselves, which guides them in their own, personal way. Just as a compass helps navigate physical journeys, this "private, secret compass" serves as a guide for one's life path. Unlike a traditional compass, it's not something that can be calculated or understood by others, but rather is an innate sense within each person, deeply rooted in their very nature.

"I'd rather be happy than right any day."

This quote highlights the importance of prioritizing happiness over being right, suggesting that personal well-being and emotional satisfaction should take precedence in life choices and interactions. It reminds us to find harmony and balance in our decisions and relationships, rather than getting stuck in arguments or disputes where the need to be "right" might dominate. The quote encourages empathy, understanding, and compromise over contention and conflict, fostering a more positive and fulfilling life experience.

Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it's accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another's eyes or heart.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Soul, Through, Accessible, Identify

There's a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of 'soul force' - something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it's writing a check or digging a well.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Deep, Spoke, Martin Luther, Dr

With pencil, you can always erase.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Pencil, You, Always, Erase

As an adolescent, I went to charm school, where I learned to pour tea and relate to boys, which, as I recall, meant giving them the pickle jar to unscrew, whether it was too hard for me or not.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Meant, Which, Learned, Pickle

Gender and race got very entwined in the 19th century, as abolition broke out, and then women wanted the right to speak about it.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Broke, Very, Abolition, Entwined

I want to believe that while we may sometimes read in the misguided pursuit of preserving our separation, there is a greater impulse inside us that compels us to read in search of the common heart.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Want, May, Read, Compels

I grew up in the American South and came of age in the 1960s, an incredibly turbulent time. It was as if the seams of American life were being ripped apart with riots and protests.

- Sue Monk Kidd

South, American Life, Riots

Due to the sweeping time frame and the voices moving back and forth, the outline for 'The Invention of Wings' was the strangest one I've ever done. I created six large, separate outlines, one for each part of the book, and hung them around my study.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Study, Separate, Outlines, Outline

'The Secret Life of Bees' was my first novel, so I had no process. I was flying by the seat of my pants, as they say, trying to understand how I, as a novelist, would work with story.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Work, Process, Pants, Novelist

I feel like we need to be aware of the ways we use and misuse religious dogma: whether it takes us deeper into love and inclusion or it separates us.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Love, Like, Religious, Misuse

I write in a journal occasionally. But it is not a daily discipline for me.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Daily, I Write, Occasionally, Journal

I sometimes start keeping a journal about the writing process itself. Particularly when I get the ideas, and I am trying to brood over the chaos phase. In writing a novel, you really have to brood over a lot of chaos of ideas and possibilities.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Possibilities, Sometimes, Journal

I can't explain exactly why it lives within me for so long and passionately. But race matters to me; racial equality matters to me, as does gender. There is something about these kinds of social injustices that go to the deep of me.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Deep, Gender, Explain, Injustices

Unraveling external selves and coming home to our real identity is the true meaning of soul work.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Work, Soul, Real, Unraveling

I had begun to write novels because of a fierce, self-serving impulse in my own heart. I had not considered the potential in a book for felt communion, the bright largesse of intimately participating in the lives of other people.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Other, Communion, Considered, Self-Serving

For me, writing a novel goes on for years, and the solitude goes on, too. It tends to swallow me at times. I know it's a problem when my husband sends the dog in to retrieve me.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Husband, Goes, Swallow, Solitude

I came to believe that my true identity goes beyond the outer roles I play. It transcends the ego. I came to understand that there is an Authentic 'I' within - an 'I Am,' or divine spark within the soul.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Play, Goes, Within, Spark

Here is where our real selfhood is rooted, in the divine spark or seed, in the image of God imprinted on the human soul. The True Self is not our creation, but God's. It is the self we are in our depths. It is our capacity for divinity and transcendence.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Here, Image, Divinity, Spark

I'm always captivated by stories of women who find a way to be daring - misbehaving women.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Find, Always, Stories, Captivated

I have a fondness for historical fiction, something wondrous like 'Wolf Hall,' but I'll read most anything as long as the story grabs my mind or my heart, and preferably both. You would be hard pressed, however, to find science fiction on my shelves.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Fiction, However, Wondrous, Science Fiction

The True Self is not our creation, but God's. It is the self we are in our depths. It is our capacity for divinity and transcendence.

- Sue Monk Kidd

True, True Self, Divinity, Depths

I read usually in the morning, in my kitchen at breakfast - a short reading time, usually poetry. I read in bed every night. I usually get in bed pretty early with a book, and I read until I can't prop my eyes open anymore - sometimes rather late.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Book, Bed, Rather, Prop

Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Experience, Empathy, Meant, Novels

I knew from reading about Sarah Grimke that she'd been given a handmaid to be her personal slave and that her name was Hetty. The only other fact I knew about her was that Sarah taught her to read: They conspired in a very subversive way, by locking the door and screening the keyhole.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Door, Very, Handmaid, Locking

Giving voice to marginalised characters is extremely important to me. I want to explore the pain of disenfranchisement, the social strata and boundaries we create and how to make them more permeable.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Pain, Voice, Explore, Strata

There are so many different things out there trying to hook our attention, we writers have to be very selective and make certain that it is coming from inside out, not outside in.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Very, Selective, Writers, Different Things

I vividly remember the summer of 1964 with its voter registration drives, boiling racial tensions, and the erupting awareness of the cruelty of racism. I was never the same after that summer.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Racism, Racial, Cruelty, Registration

Reading was a huge part of my life as a child - we were a family of storytellers.

- Sue Monk Kidd

My Life, Were, Huge Part, Storytellers

I've always been a journal-keeper. I've always tried to write about how I'm experiencing life, and my feelings and thoughts.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Thoughts, Always, Been, Feelings

On weekends, I sit in a lounge chair on my balcony. I love to be outside when the weather's right. I can stay there pretty much all day.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Love, Pretty, Weekends, Sit

I was a Nancy Drew girl. Also Grimms' fairy tales.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Nancy, Also, Fairy Tales, Tales

I was a very good nurse, but I burned out after eight years or so because it wasn't what I truly wanted to do. Writing is what I belong to.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Good, Belong, Very, Nurse

I got my Bachelor's degree in nursing and worked nine years - even taught nursing in a college - before I stopped and said to myself, 'This is not who I am. I am not really a nurse inside. I'm a writer.'

- Sue Monk Kidd

College, Nine, Before, Nurse

Every writer has their rituals. For me, it's morning walks along the beach. And then, in my study I have a huge painting of the Black Madonna hung over my desk, and quite a few pictures of Mary around me for inspiration.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Inspiration, Study, Around, Rituals

I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Advice, Deal, Main Thing, Great Deal

Gradually it occurred to me that we spend a great deal of life asleep and that dreams are little narratives, little stories. I thought, 'Who's choreographing this stuff?'

- Sue Monk Kidd

Deal, Stories, Narratives, Great Deal

My stories have a deep spiritual core because I have a deep desire to understand things of the spirit, but yet I don't think I've written these stories from any kind of specific religious agenda because I don't think that would work.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Deep, Religious, Deep Desire, Agenda

When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Pain, More, Willing, Wakes

Stories are amazing and powerful because they can resonate with people depending on their needs and experiences and speak truths we need to hear in that moment in time.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Need, Needs, Stories, Resonate

I have an affinity for writing in the first person. I love the intimacy of being dropped inside the character.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Love, Character, Intimacy, Affinity

Sometimes I was so busy being tuned in to outside ideas, expectations, and demands, I failed to hear the unique music in my soul. I forfeited my ability to listen creatively to my deepest self, to my own God within.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Soul, Sometimes, Own, Demands

In the early 1800s, religion was often used as a way to keep slavery in place. Slaves were forced to attend the church of their owners, listen to selective dogma that kept them obedient and subservient.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Slaves, Attend, Dogma, Selective

I first saw 'The Dinner Party' in 2007 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. While perusing the Heritage Panels, which honor 999 women who have made important contributions to Western history, I came upon the names of two sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimke.

- Sue Monk Kidd

City, Honor, New York City, Contributions

I grew up in Georgia, in a small town in the southwest corner of Georgia, actually, called Sylvester.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Small, Southwest, Actually, Georgia

I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It's not something that happens overnight. It's an evolution of the heart.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Forgiveness, Die, Some, Painful

I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Process, Die, Some, Painful

It's always been my hope that I would write a story that would inspire and would connect with people in a way that would touch hearts.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Touch, Always, Been, Hearts

I think many people need, even require, a narrative version of their life. I seem to be one of them. Writing memoir is, in some ways, a work of wholeness.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Think, Some, Memoir, Version

I want my words to open a portal through which the reader may leave the self, migrate to some other human sky and return 'disposed' to otherness.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Sky, Through, Which, Return

I think books with spiritual themes simply point to the deeper mysteries of life - to what lies beyond us, to what's hidden inside of us, or perhaps to an understanding of what truly matters.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Think, Hidden, I Think, Deeper

I eventually found that the soul is more than an immortal commodity to win and save. It is the repository of the inner divine, the truest part of us.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Soul, Truest, Commodity, Repository

I've noticed that most people tend to go through life preserving their differences from others.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Go, Through, Noticed, Preserving

I'm a big believer in the way ritual can put us in connection with our spirituality.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Big, Believer, Ritual, Connection

When I wrote 'The Secret Life of Bees,' I was writing about civil rights.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Writing, Civil, Wrote, Civil Rights

'Traveling with Pomegranates' is a very personal, very honest story about my relationship with my daughter and Ann's with her mother.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Very, About, Traveling, Daughter

All I knew about bees when I started to write 'The Secret Life of Bees' was that they can live in a wall of your house, and that they make this incredible thing that I loved.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Incredible, Knew, About, Wall

Writing in the voice of an American slave felt like I was biting off something very large.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Voice, Slave, Very, Biting

I do read a poem almost every morning. Unless I'm really, really late, I have to get my poem in.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Late, Read, Almost, Poem

I like to have a title before I start writing.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Writing, Like, Before, Title

I actually grew up in a house in which bees lived in one of the walls, and they lived there 18 years, in fact, so it wasn't a fleeting thing.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Fact, Fleeting, Which, Walls

I have an old dog named Lily, and she's a black lab.

- Sue Monk Kidd

She, Old, Named, Lab

We have to learn not to feel guilty about letting our imagination browse around, and you know, in writing fiction particularly. But I think, in any kind of writing, we have to learn to allow ourselves to approach it in a contemplative way.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Think, I Think, Allow, Letting

People who think dying is the worst thing don't know a thing about life.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Think, Dying, Worst Thing, Worst

I prefer to read print books. Maybe I'm just a little old-school. I do read e-books.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Books, Read, Prefer, Print

I don't go in search of ideas; I try to let them find me.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Me, Go, Find, Search

I think there must be a place inside of us where dreams go and wait their turn.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Think, Wait, I Think, Turn

A lot of time you write out of some unconscious place. I try to trust what is coming and where it wants to take me.

- Sue Monk Kidd

Trust, Some, Out, Unconscious

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