Audre Lorde’s Quote for Self-Care

Audre Ladye was a Black lesbian feminist and poet who had some powerful words to say. Here are some of the best.

The ability of poetry and prose to transcend generations is fascinating, especially when they address difficult topics which have changed history. Audre Lorde, who died in 2007, did all that and more. She was born in New York, to Caribbean parents. She seamlessly merged African lore with modern life. She was known for her outspokenness, which could be felt in all of her publications. She brought to light issues that affected various minorities who still seek equal rights today.

Lorde, a member the LGBTQ community in the 1970s, 1980s, spoke out about the difficulties of being a Black lesbian woman. She combined her personal experience with her political beliefs to create a number pieces that served as a blueprint for wordsmiths who followed her path.

These quotes are a good introduction to the self-care of one of the greatest authors of the 20th century

Read more: Inspirational 60+ Mindfulness Quotes for Inner Peace

On maintaining authenticity

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,” Lorde wrote in A Burst of Light” and Other Essays.

“As a Black lesbian mother in an interracial marriage, there was usually some part of me guaranteed to offend everybody’s comfortable prejudices of who I should be. That is how I learned that if I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.” – Audre Lorde

“We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings.” – Audre Lorde

“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.”- Audre Lorde

On bravery

“The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival,” Lorde wrote in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches.

“Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.” – Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

“I have come to believe over and over that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.” – Audre Lorde

“I am my best work – a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines.”- Audre Lorde

On the necessity of self-care

“Life is very short. What we have to do must be done in the now,” Lorde wrote in The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.

“I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk throught the rain.” – Audre Lorde

“In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction,” Lorde told Claudia Tate in Black Women Writers at Work.

“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives.” – Audre Lorde

“The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival.” – Audre Lorde

“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” – Audre Lorde

On pain

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences,” Lorde wrote in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches.

“When I dare to be powerful—to use my strength in the service of my vision—then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid,” Lorde wrote in the The Transformation of Silence into Language & Action.

“Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.” – Conversations with Audre Lorde implies

“The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot.” – Audre Lorde