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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.

Audre Lorde

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Audre Lorde
Age: 58 †
Born: 1934
Born: February 18
Died: 1992
Died: November 17
Essayist
Feminist
Librarian
Novelist
Poet
University Teacher
Writer
New York City
New York
Audre Geraldine Lorde
Going
Sooner
Protected
Later
Protect
Silence
Dies
Whether
Silences
Ever
Spoken

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Somedays, if bitterness were a whetstone, I could be sharp as grief.
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Even the smallest victory is never to be taken for granted. Each victory must be applauded.
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When we create out of our experiences, as feminists of color, women of color, we have to develop those structures that will present and circulate our culture.
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Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat.
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Well, I do not want to be tolerated, nor misnamed. I want to be recognized.
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Out of my flesh that hungers and my mouth that knows comes the shape I am seeking for reason.
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I am not only a casualty, I am also a warrior.
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The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.
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The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling. . . .
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Perhaps...I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am Black, because I am a lesbian, because I am myself--a Black woman warrior poet doing my work--come to ask you, are you doing yours?
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It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others-for their use and to our detriment.
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... it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence.
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Our visions begin with our desires.
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All writers have periods when they stop writing, when they cannot write, and this is always painful and terrible because writing is like breathing.
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What I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid?
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Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.
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I believe one of the hardest things you can do is conquer your fears, but if you have a goal, then it's your job to open up and let it be real no matter how scary it seems.
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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.
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Raising Black children — female and male — in the mouth of a racist, sexist, suicidal dragon is perilous and chancy. If they cannot love and resist at the same time, they will probably not survive. And in order to survive they must let go. This is what mothers teach — love, survival — that is, self-definition and letting go.
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Divide and conquer must become define and empower.
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