Audre Lorde
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"Audre Lorde" was a Caribbean-American writer, radical feminist, womanist, lesbian, and civil rights activist. Lorde served as an inspiration to women worldwide, one of her most notable efforts being her activist work with Afro-German women in the 1980s. Her identity as a black lesbian gave her work a novel perspective and put her in a unique position to speak on issues surrounding civil rights, feminism, and oppression. Her work gained both wide acclaim and wide criticism, due to the elements of social liberalism and sexuality presented in her work and her emphasis on revolution and change. She died of breast cancer in 1992, at the age of 58.

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If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.

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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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Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.

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Sometimes we could not bear the face of each other's differences because of what we feared it might say about ourselves.

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Revolution is not a onetime event.

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

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

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It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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