My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.
Interpretation
Silence does not provide safety; expressing truths helps connect and empower others.
This quote by Audre Lorde emphasizes the importance of speaking out and sharing one's truths rather than remaining silent, as silence does not shield individuals from vulnerability or oppression. Lorde reflects on her experiences of reaching out and forming connections with other women through shared words and struggles, suggesting that such dialogues can bridge differences and foster understanding in a world where truths are often suppressed.
In practice
In a panel discussion about women's rights, someone could quote this to emphasize the importance of speaking out.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
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.
It is very important to know who you are. To make decisions. To show who you are.
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Mistakes are a part of the dues one pays for a full life.
Very few men are wise by their own council, or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself, had a fool for a master.
Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect.
Somehow, something always happens just before things get to the very worst. It is as if Magic did it. If I could only just remember that always. The worse thing never quite comes.
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