Audre Lorde Quotes - Page 3

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I am a bleak heroism of words that refuse to be buried alive with the liars.

Audre Lorde

Liars, Heroism, Alive

Audre Lorde (2000). “The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde”, p.348, W. W. Norton & Company

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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

Bridges, Differences, Broken

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.44, Crossing Press

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Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.

Audre Lorde

Life, Reality, Done

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.72, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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... it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence.

Audre Lorde

Differences, Silence

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.44, Crossing Press

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In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.

Audre Lorde

Differences, Growth, Progress

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.86, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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How much of this truth can I bear to see and still live unblinded? How much of this pain can I use?

Audre Lorde

Pain, Use, Bears

Audre Lorde (1990). “Need: A Chorale for Black Women Voices : Pin”, Kitchen Table/Women of Color Press

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Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it. ... pain will always either change or stop. Always. ... The confidence that it will change is what makes bearing it possible. So pain is fluid. It is only when you conceive of it as something static that it is unbearable.

Audre Lorde

Pain, Important, Unbearable

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.16, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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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

Destiny, Luxury, Giving

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.54, Crossing Press

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For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.

Audre Lorde

Luxury, Silence, Waiting

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.44, Crossing Press

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Anger is loaded with information and energy.

Audre Lorde

Anger, Energy, Information

"The left needs to take a leaf out of Jesus' book - and get angry" by Steven W Thrasher, www.theguardian.com. February 20, 2017.

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

Audre Lorde

Inspirational, Visibility, Vulnerable

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.42, Crossing Press

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Even the smallest victory is never to be taken for granted. Each victory must be applauded.

Audre Lorde

Gratitude, Taken, Victory

Audre Lorde (2017). “A Burst of Light: and Other Essays”, p.115, Courier Dover Publications

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Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever.

Audre Lorde

I Love You, Inspiring, Valentines Day

Audre Lorde (2000). “The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde”, p.64, W. W. Norton & Company

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I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk throught the rain.

Audre Lorde

Pain, Rain, Survival

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.89, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.

Audre Lorde

Pain, Important, Deals

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.16, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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African tradition deals with life as an experience to be lived. In many respects, it is much like the Eastern philosophies in that we see ourselves as a part of a life force; we are joined, for instance, to the air, to the earth. We are part of the whole-life process. We live in accordance with, in a kind of correspondence with the rest of the world as a whole. And therefore living becomes an experience, rather than a problem, no matter how bad or how painful it may be.

Audre Lorde

Philosophy, Oneness, Air

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.96, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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I am on the cusp of change and the curve is shifting fast.

Audre Lorde

Change, Curves, Shifting

Audre Lorde (2017). “A Burst of Light: And Other Essays”, p.120, Courier Dover Publications

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There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.

Audre Lorde

Mother, Teacher, Keys

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.31, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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Our visions begin with our desires.

Audre Lorde

Inspirational, Vision, Desire

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.91, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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If you can't change reality, change your perceptions of it.

Audre Lorde

Reality, Perception, Can't Change

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For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit rises, beautiful and tough as chestnut stanchions against our nightmare of weakness. Within these deep places, each one of us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power, of unexamined and unrecorded emotion and feeling

Audre Lorde

Beautiful, Creativity, Dark

Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.36, Crossing Press

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...my experience with people who tried to label me was that they usually did it to either dismiss me or use me.

Audre Lorde

People, Labels, Use

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I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do.

Audre Lorde

Long, People, Want

Audre Lorde (2017). “A Burst of Light: and Other Essays”, p.71, Courier Dover Publications

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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

Children, Color, Differences

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June Jordan once said something which is just wonderful. I'm paraphrasing her-that her function as a poet was to make revolution irresistible. Well o.k. that is the function of us all, as creative artists, to make the truth, as we see it irresistible.

Audre Lorde

Artist, June, Creative

Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.198, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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Born: February 18, 1934
Died: November 17, 1992
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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