If our history has taught us anything, it is that action for change directed against the external conditions of our oppressions is not enough. Audre Lorde More Quotes by Audre Lorde More Quotes From Audre Lorde It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. Audre Lorde equality inspiring inspirational I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. Audre Lorde fearless feminist different Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. Audre Lorde compassion caring self There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives. Audre Lorde feminism issues struggle Tomorrow belongs to those of us who conceive of it as belonging to everyone; who lend the best of ourselves to it, and with joy. Audre Lorde future tomorrow joy Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future. Audre Lorde women gay responsibility When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak. Audre Lorde strong-women honesty silence When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. Audre Lorde strength success inspirational The speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don't miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking. Audre Lorde creativity missing love-you It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled, and how to make common cause with those other identified as outside the structures, in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish. It is learning how to take our differences and make the strengths. For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. Audre Lorde differences house order The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations that we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us. Audre Lorde pieces revolutionary focus If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive. Audre Lorde being-yourself inspiring people Divide and conquer must become define and empower. Audre Lorde divide-and-conquer conquer empowering Without community, there is no liberation. Audre Lorde collaboration community change My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences. Audre Lorde differences silence real Once we recognize what it is we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy. Audre Lorde inspiring happiness love Some problems we share as women, some we do not. You [white women] fear your children will grow up to join the patriarchy and testify against you; we fear our children will be dragged from a car and shot down in the street, and you will turn your backs on the reasons they are dying. Audre Lorde growing-up white children When you reach out and touch other human beings, it doesn't matter whether you call it therapy or teaching or poetry. Audre Lorde reach-out teaching matter For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate all our choices. Audre Lorde differences real games I am a Black Lesbian Feminist Warrior Poet Mother, stronger for all my identities, and I am indivisible. Audre Lorde warrior feminist mother
