Skip to content

I thought if I stated my name enough times, my identity would fall back into place […] But a name is a cover, a placeholder, not the whole story. A name is a basin with a leak that you need to constantly fill up. If you don’t, it drains and it’s just there, a husk, dry and empty.

— Clemantine Wamariya The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story About War and What Comes After (2018)

Another quote →

More quotes by Clemantine Wamariya

My mom says tears are good for your skin.” And maybe your soul, too.

I want to really live in the present, and find love and joy in the world around me.

There is so much human pain and suffering in the world. I want to honor all those difficult experiences and acknowledge their aftermath.

One of the most valuable skills I’d learned while trying to survive as a refugee was reading what other people wanted me to do.

I was the clever child who induced the fairy godmother to bring her parents back to life.

All Clemantine Wamariya quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Clemantine Wamariya (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.