Audre Lorde Quotes

"...and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength."

on Life

"There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives."

on Philosophy

"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."

on Identity

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."

on Freedom

"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

on Social Justice

"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."

on Courage

"No woman is responsible for altering the psyche of her oppressor, even when that psyche is embodied in another woman."

on Philosophy

"Hatred is a death wish for the hated not a life wish for anything else."

on Emotion

"While we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness the weight of that silence will choke us."

on Fear

"There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt."

on Creativity

"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."

on Courage

"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."

on Courage

"The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot."

on Learning

"Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat."

on Self Awareness

"A choice of pains. That's what living was all about."

on Mental Health