Audre Lorde

"Every woman has a well-stocked toolbox she does not believe she owns."

"There is always someone asking you to underestimate yourself."

"The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us."

"Give and receive support, holding each other in love, and demand for yourself the very best of the world."

"It took me so long to come to believe in myself, to understand that it was not about being the best, but about being useful."

"Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power is forged."

"None of us can succeed if we are divided against ourselves."

"The transformation of silence into language and action is an act of survival."

"Love involves the recognition of another's power and potential, and a commitment to celebrating that growth."

"As we learn to recognize the depths of our feelings, we can teach others to do the same."

"We can be deliberate and afraid at the same time, and do it anyway."

"The problem of racism, the problem of exploitation, the problem of degradation cannot be solved by black people alone."

"Our children cannot dream dreams we do not give them."

"Truth is that powerful seed within us, waiting to be fed, waited to bloom."

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

"We must be willing to see and hear what is happening right in front of us."

"Emotional literacy should be taught in schools and in our communities."

"The function of freedom is to free someone else."

"I want to become more myself."

"Loving ourselves through the process of revision and change is the greatest gift we can give ourselves."

"The women who work in our communities are the women who build them."

"Anger is loaded with information and energy."

"I would never recommend silence to anyone again to anyone who believes that they have something to say."

"When women love women, we are violating the scheme of things that has been prescribed to us."

"All our deepest life experiences are rooted in the senses."

"Transformation cannot happen unless we are willing to move through the pain."

"The work of self-examination never ends."

"We need to use the power of our creative vision to transform the world."

"Survival is the act of growing our own beings in a world that does not want us to grow."

"Our power grows as we recognize it in ourselves and call it forth in others."