Quote Of The Day By Alice Walker: 'Be Nobody's Darling; Be An...'

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Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944, the eighth child of her sharecropper parents. As a young girl, an accident left Walker blind in one eye. Her mother thought writing might be better for her than doing chores, so she gifted Walker a typewriter. A scholarship subsequently landed her at Spelman College until she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College. Walker then moved to Mississippi, where she was active in the Civil Rights Movement while still teaching and writing extensively. 

In fact, in 1967, Walker and famous civil rights lawyer Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal became Mississippi's first-ever legally married interracial couple. Her first book of poetry, "Once," was published in 1968, followed by debut novel "The Third Life of Grange Copeland," in 1970. "The Color Purple" was published in 1982 and earned Walker the Pulitzer Prize — the first African American woman to do so. Three years later, the book was adapted into a film directed by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. A musical adaptation hit Broadway two decades later.

Through her many books, poems, and essays, Walker became a well-known voice for feminism and civil rights. In her 1983 essay collection, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose," she coined the term "womanist." Walker described it as: "A Black feminist or feminist of color. From the Black folk expression of mothers to female children, 'You acting womanish,' i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior," per the Black Feminist Collective. Hence why Walker's take on being yourself is our quote of the day.

"Be nobody's darling; be an outcast. Take the contradictions of your life and wrap around you like a shawl, to parry stones to keep you warm." This is a line from Alice Walker's poem "Be Nobody's Darling," which was originally published as part of her 1973 poetry collection "Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems." Taken in its purest form, this line is an important reminder not to change who you are for anybody else, regardless of what societal pressures might be telling you to do. 

It isn't your responsibility to change who you are to be accepted by others. Although it may be tempting to change and contort yourself to fit into someone else's ideal mold, according to Alice Walker, the goal isn't to become someone different just to gain someone else's approval. Instead, seek to gain your own approval through embracing the uniqueness and idiosyncrasies that make you who you are. Walker's life has been defined by moments when she went against the grain. Even when she started writing, rather than doing chores like her siblings, fitting in and doing what others expected of her wasn't her priority. The outspoken civil rights activist never would have succeeded like she did in her writing or her lifelong activism had she prioritized others' expectations and wants. 

As a result, she broke the mold, created groundbreaking work, and made real change. It's always been important for people to fight for what they believe in — even if those in power typically want the opposite. Today is certainly no different. This means not conforming to what others want from you, especially when it feels easier to do so. Being who you truly are and fighting for what you believe in must take precedence over what society, those in power, or people who are attempting to influence you want. March to the beat of your own drum and let everything that makes you who you are be your comfort.

• "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
• "This is a wonderful planet, and it is being completely destroyed by people who have too much money and power and no empathy."
• "People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools."
• "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow."
• "There is no graceful way to carry hatred."