Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Black men. Audre Lorde More Quotes by Audre Lorde More Quotes From Audre Lorde You'd better name yourself, because, if you don't others will do it for you. Audre Lorde ifs names Women on trains Audre Lorde precision past travel Silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness. Audre Lorde invisibility silence hands There are many lesbians and gay men trapped by their fear into silence and invisibility, and they exist in a dim valley of terror wearing nooses of conformity. Audre Lorde gay silence men If you can't change reality, change your perceptions of it. Audre Lorde cant-change perception reality What I leave behind has a life of its own. Audre Lorde behinds Attend me, hold me in your muscular flowering arms, protect me from throwing any part of myself away. Audre Lorde throwing hold-me arms Out of my flesh that hungers and my mouth that knows comes the shape I am seeking for reason. Audre Lorde shapes flesh mouths Who I am is what fulfills me and fulfills the vision I have of the world. Audre Lorde vision who-i-am self-esteem Pain is an event ... Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain. Audre Lorde pain suffering hands For women, the need and desire to nurture each other is not pathological but redemptive, and it is within that knowledge that our real power is rediscovered. It is this real connection, which is so feared by a patriarchal world. Audre Lorde connections real desire And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives. Audre Lorde cry responsibility share I cannot shut you out the way I shut the others out, so maybe I can destroy you. Must destroy you? Audre Lorde i-can way My anger has meant pain to me but it has also meant survival, and before I give it up I'm going to be sure that there is something at least as powerful to replace it on the road to clarity. Audre Lorde pain powerful giving Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one's own actions or lack of action. Audre Lorde response guilt action There is a timbre of voice that comes from not being heard and knowing / you are not being heard / noticed only by others / not heard for the same reason. Audre Lorde voice knowing reason I can't really define it in sexual terms alone although our sexuality is so energizing why not enjoy it too? Audre Lorde sexuality why-not literature Every woman I have ever known has made a lasting impression on my soul. Audre Lorde lasting-impressions soul made Every woman I have ever loved has left her print upon me, where I loved some invaluable piece of myself apart from me-so different that I had to stretch and grow in order to recognize her. And in that growing, we came to separation, that place where work begins. Audre Lorde pieces different order We must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply and so many of our old ideas disparage. Audre Lorde dream action ideas
