Audre Lorde

The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.

When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.

When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference whether or not I am afraid.

The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.

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.

I remember how being young and black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell.

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.

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.

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.

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't.

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

Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.

I would like to do another piece of fiction dealing with a number of issues: Lesbian parenting, the 1960's, and interracial relationships in the Lesbian and Gay community.

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

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

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

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