Not biology, but ignorance of ourselves, has been the key to our powerlessness
Interpretation
Our limitations come from a lack of understanding of ourselves rather than our inherent biological capabilities.
Adrienne Rich emphasizes that the true source of our powerlessness lies not in our biological makeup, but rather in our ignorance about our own potential and the complexities of our identity. By suggesting that understanding ourselves is crucial, she advocates for self-awareness and knowledge as keys to empowerment and agency in our lives.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of self-discovery.
My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance.
The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution of a wheel which returns in the end to the same place; the revolving door of a politics which has liberated women only to use them, and only within the limits of male tolerance.
A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'β
There is no 'the truth','a truth' - truth is not one thing, or even a system. It is an increasing complexity. the pattern of the carpet is a surface. When we look closely, or when we become weavers, we learn of the tiny multiple threads unseen in the overall pattern, the knots on the underside of the carpet
It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness
It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'
Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.
To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
You can never be wise unless you love reading.
If you are insulted, if you are accused, if they gossip about you, don't say anything bad. Don't be the one who sees the shame, be the one who corrects it.
Ah, I fancy it is just the same with most of what you call your emancipation. You have read yourself into a number of new ideas and opinions. You have got a sort of smattering of recent discoveries in various fields - discoveries that seem to overthrow certain principles which have hitherto been held impregnable and unassailable. But all this has only been a matter of intellect, Miss West - superficial acquisition. It has not passed into your blood.
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