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Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde Quotes

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Famous Audre Lorde Quotes

“In the cause of silence, each of us draws the face of her own fear--fear of contempt, of censure, or some judgment, or recognition, of challenge, of annihilation. But most of all, I think, we fear the very visibility without which we also cannot truly live. Within this country where racial difference creates a constant, if unspoken, distortion of vision, Black women have on one hand always been highly visible, and so, on the other hand, have been rendered invisible through the depersonalization of racism. Even within the women’s movement, we have had to fight, and still do, for that very visibility which also renders us most vulnerable, our Blackness. For to survive in the mouth of this dragon we call america, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson--that we were never meant to survive. Not as human beings. And neither were most of you here today, Black or not. And that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength. Because the machine will try to grind you into dust anyway, whether or not we speak. We can sit in our corners mute forever while our sisters and our selves are wasted, while our children are distorted and destroyed, while our earth is poisoned; we can sit in our safe corners mute as bottles, and we will still be no less afraid.”

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Book:The Cancer Journals
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“I do not wish my anger and pain and fear about cancer to fossilize into yet another silence, nor to rob me of whatever strength can lie at the core of this experience, openly acknowledged and examined. For other women of all ages, colors, and sexual identities who recognize that imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness, and for myself, I have tried to voice some of my feelings and thoughts about the travesty of prosthesis, the pain of amputation, the function of cancer in a profit economy, my confrontation with mortality, the strength of women loving, and the power and rewards of self-conscious living.”

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Book:The Cancer Journals
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“In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality, and of what I wished and wanted for my life, however short it might be, priorities and omissions became strongly etched in a merciless light and what I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid? To question or to speak as I believed could have meant pain, or death. But we all hurt in so many different ways, all the time, and pain will either change, or end. Death, on the other hand, is the final silence. And that might be coming quickly, now, without regard for whether I had ever spoken what needed to be said, or had only betrayed myself into small silences, while I planned someday to speak, or waited for someone else's words. And I began to recognize a source of power within myself that comes from the knowledge that while it is most desirable not to be afraid, learning to put fear into a perspective gave me great strength. I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.”

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Book:The Cancer Journals
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“A Litany for Survival For those of us who live at the shoreline standing upon the constant edges of decision crucial and alone for those of us who cannot indulge the passing dreams of choice who love in doorways coming and going in the hours between dawns looking inward and outward at once before and after seeking a now that can breed futures like bread in our children's mouths so their dreams will not reflect the death of ours: For those of us who were imprinted with fear like a faint line in the center of our foreheads learning to be afraid with our mother's milk for by this weapon this illusion of some safety to be found the heavy-footed hoped to silence us For all of us this instant and this triumph We were never meant to survive. And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish when we are alone we are afraid love will never return and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive.”

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Book:The Black Unicorn: Poems
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“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.”

InspirationalImportantUseSuccessFearWomenBlackPowerfulBusinessVisionPowerCourageSuccessfulStrengthBecomingImportanceEncouragementFeministDareHelping OthersAfrican AmericanLife ChangingServiceWomen EmpowermentDaringStrong WomenSuccess In LifeEncouragingBlack WomenNo FearBlack HistoryEmpowering WomenOvercoming FearBeing StrongProject ManagementEmpowered WomenSuccessful WomenSuccessful LifeMoral CourageStrength And WeaknessBest SuccessInspirational Strong WomenGreat WomenBecoming SuccessfulBlack History MonthWomen PowerPower And ControlStrong FemaleInspire WomenBlack History Month InspirationalGreat VisionBusiness WomanVisions And DreamsBlack PowerWomen StrengthNew VisionBlack History InspirationalInspirational StrengthStrong Powerful WomenGetting StrongerBlack Women InspirationalFamous Women InspirationalBlack InspirationalGreat FemaleStrong MotivationalVolunteerism And ServiceBlack MotivationalPower And FearConfident WomanPower StrengthSpiritual VisionWomen And StrengthEncouraging UpliftingCommon Vision
Author:Audre Lorde
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“And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish when we are alone we are afraid love will never return and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive”

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Book:The Black Unicorn: Poems
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