If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive. Audre Lorde More Quotes by Audre Lorde More Quotes From Audre Lorde I learned so much from listening to people. And all I knew was, the only thing I had was honesty and openness. Audre Lorde honesty listening people Oppression is as American as apple pie. Audre Lorde apples pie apple-pie I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. Audre Lorde acceptance inspirational believe Institutionalized rejection of differences is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people. As members of such an economy, we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate. Audre Lorde differences people thinking My fullest concentration of energy is available to me only when I integrate all the parts of who I am, openly, allowing power from particular sources of my living to flow back and forth freely through all my different selves, without the restriction of externally imposed definition. Audre Lorde who-i-am energy self Unless one lives and loves in the trenches, it is difficult to remember that the war against dehumanization is ceaseless. Audre Lorde life-and-love remember war Whenever a conscious Black woman raises her voice on issues central to her existence, somebody is going to call her strident, because they don't want to hear about it, nor us. I refuse to be silenced and I refuse to be trivialized, even if I do not say what I have to say perfectly. Audre Lorde issues black voice ...my experience with people who tried to label me was that they usually did it to either dismiss me or use me. Audre Lorde labels use people It is never easy to demand the most from ourselves, from our lives, from our work. To encourage excellence is to go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society is to encourage excellence. But giving in to the fear of feeling and working to capacity is a luxury only the unintentional can afford, and the unintentional are those who do not wish to guide their own destinies. Audre Lorde luxury destiny giving [Speaking] is never without fear; of visibility, of the harsh light of scrutiny and perhaps judgment, of pain, of death. But we have lived through all of those already, in silence, except death. And I remind myself all the time now, that if I were to have been born mute, and had maintained an oath of silence my whole life for safety, I would still have suffered, and I would still die. Audre Lorde safety pain light The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken. Audre Lorde differences broken bridges I am still learning - how to take joy in all the people I am, how to use all my selves in the service of what I believe, how to accept when I fail and rejoice when I succeed. Audre Lorde perseverance self believe Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness. Audre Lorde communication ignorance names You are the one that you are looking for. Audre Lorde lourdes healing From my membership in all of these groups I have learned that oppression and the intolerance of difference come in all shapes and sizes and colors and sexualities; and that among those of us who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children, there can be no hierarchies of oppression. Audre Lorde differences color children I am deliberate and afraid of nothing. Audre Lorde inspiring inspirational life We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other. Audre Lorde black study literature For we have built into all of us, old blueprints of expectation and response, old structures of oppression and these must be altered at the same time that we alter the living condition which are the result of those structures. For the master's tool will never dismantle the master's house. Audre Lorde tools expectations house Every Black woman in America lives her life somewhere along a wide curve of ancient and unexpressed angers. Audre Lorde curves black america What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heel print upon another woman's face? Audre Lorde print oppression faces
