There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.

Quote by Audre Lorde

Topics: Audre Lorde Quotes

Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with...

Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with...

It's possible to take that as a personal metaphor and then multiply it to a...

It's possible to take that as a personal metaphor and then multiply it to a...

In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is...

In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is...

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have...

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have...

There are lesbians, God knows... if you came up through lesbian circles in the forties...

There are lesbians, God knows... if you came up through lesbian circles in the forties...

I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.

I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.

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

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

The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the...

The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the...

Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies...

Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies...

In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason...

In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason...

The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the...

The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the...

Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are...

Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are...

It's a struggle but that's why we exist, so that another generation of Lesbians of...

It's a struggle but that's why we exist, so that another generation of Lesbians of...

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

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

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

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

Your silence will not protect you.

Your silence will not protect you.

When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference...

When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference...

Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives....

Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives....

The sixties were characterized by a heady belief in instantaneous solutions.

The sixties were characterized by a heady belief in instantaneous solutions.

We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes...

We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes...