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Quote by Audre Lorde

“Guilt and defensiveness are bricks in a wall against which we all flounder; they serve none of our futures.”

Quote by Audre Lorde

Book:Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Work

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Sister Outsider is a compilation of essays and speeches by Audre Lorde, a prominent African American poet and civil rights activist. The book delves into the complexities of race, gender, and identity, offering a profound and personal perspective on these issues. Lorde's work is characterized by its powerful and poetic language, as she shares her experiences and insights on the challenges faced by marginalized communities. more

Author

Audre Lorde, an American writer, poet, and speaker, was born on February 18, 1934, and passed away on November 17, 1992. Known for her profound insights into race, gender, and sexual orientation, her work encompasses poetry, prose, and novels, which have had a profound impact on contemporary literature and social movements. more

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“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.”

Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

“I am a Black Lesbian Feminist Warrior Poet Mother, stronger for all my identities, and I am indivisible.”

Mother Black Identity Poet Stronger Feminist Warrior Indivisible

Author:Audre Lorde

“stoicism and silence does not serve us nor our communities, only the forces of things as they are.”

Doe Force Community Silence Stoicism Inaction Our Community

Book:A Burst of Light: and Other Essays

Source: A Burst of Light: and Other Essays

“When I hear the deepest truths I speak coming out of my mouth sounding like my mother's, even remembering how I fought against her, I have to reassess both our relationship as well as the sources of my knowing.”

Wells Remember Mother Speak Knowing Source Mouths Coming Out Our Relationship

Book:Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

“In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change.”

Order Culture Energy Source Various Oppression Oppressed

Book:Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

“When you are a member of an out-group, and you challenge others with whom you share this outsider position to examine some aspect of their lives that distorts differences between you, then there can be a great deal of pain.”

Pain Challenges Differences Deals Groups Share Position Members Aspect Outsiders Social Change

Book:Conversations with Audre Lorde

Source: Conversations with Audre Lorde

“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.”

Important Pain Deals Unbearable Fluid Static

Book:Conversations with Audre Lorde

Source: Conversations with Audre Lorde

“Of all the art forms, poetry is the most economical. It is the one which is the most secret, which requires the least physical labor, the least material, and the one which can be done between shifts, in the hospital pantry, on the subway, and on scraps of surplus paper. ... poetry has been the major voice of poor, working class, and Colored women. A room of one's own may be a necessity for writing prose, but so are reams of paper, a typewriter, and plenty of time.”

Writing May Has Beens Art Done Form Voice Poor Rooms Secret Class Poverty Materials Paper Majors Labor Plenty Prose Poetry Is Hospitals Working Class Subway Scrap Typewriters Surplus Pantry

Author:Audre Lorde

“Poetry is not a luxury.”

Luxury Poetry Is

Book:Conversations with Audre Lorde

Source: Conversations with Audre Lorde

“pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling.”

Feelings Direct Denial Sensations Pornography Erotic Suppression True Feelings

Book:Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches