Some women wait for themselves around the next corner and call the empty spot peace but the opposite of living is only not living and the stars do not care.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that some women seek fulfillment in an unattainable future while ignoring the present reality of life.
Audre Lorde reflects on how some women may postpone their happiness by waiting for a future moment where they believe they will find peace. She emphasizes that merely existing is not enough; true living involves engaging with the present, as the stars—which symbolize aspirations or ideals—remain indifferent to one's state of being. The quote invites reflection on the importance of actively living rather than passively waiting for life to change.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about self-acceptance and mindfulness.
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.
Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families.
I've never been more confused in my life, but at the same time I've never been more satisfied with what we've done.
One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.
Daily dawns another day; I must up, to make my way. Though I dress and drink and eat, Move my fingers and my feet, Learn a little, here and there, Weep and laugh and sweat and swear, Hear a song, or watch a stage, Leave some words upon a page, Claim a foe, or hail a friend- Bed awaits me at the end.
Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can. I wish you Happy New Year and diary full of best stories ever written in your life.
You can tell it any way you want but that's the way it is. I should of done it and I didnt. And some part of me has never quit wishin I could go back. And I cant. I didn't know you could steal your own life. And I didnt know that it would bring you no more benefit than about anything else you might steal. I thinkI done the best with itI knew how but itstill wasntmine. It neverhas been.
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