Somedays, if bitterness were a whetstone, I could be sharp as grief. Audre Lorde More Quotes by Audre Lorde More Quotes From Audre Lorde If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That's the beginning of social protest. Audre Lorde painairjustice I learned so much from listening to people. And all I knew was, the only thing I had was honesty and openness. Audre Lorde honestylisteningpeople Oppression is as American as apple pie. Audre Lorde applespieapple-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 acceptanceinspirationalbelieve 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 differencespeoplethinking 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-amenergyself Unless one lives and loves in the trenches, it is difficult to remember that the war against dehumanization is ceaseless. Audre Lorde life-and-loverememberwar 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 issuesblackvoice ...my experience with people who tried to label me was that they usually did it to either dismiss me or use me. Audre Lorde labelsusepeople 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 luxurydestinygiving [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 safetypainlight 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 differencesbrokenbridges 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 perseveranceselfbelieve 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 communicationignorancenames You are the one that you are looking for. Audre Lorde lourdeshealing 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 differencescolorchildren I am deliberate and afraid of nothing. Audre Lorde inspiringinspirationallife 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 blackstudyliterature 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 toolsexpectationshouse Every Black woman in America lives her life somewhere along a wide curve of ancient and unexpressed angers. Audre Lorde curvesblackamerica
