For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.

Audre Lorde
About This Quote

This quote speaks to how we are taught to respect fear. We grow up in a world where we are taught to accept that which goes against our values and morals. This quote reminds us that it is important for us to take control of our own lives and change the way we are being treated. It is important for us to know our rights, challenge the systems that are oppressing us, speak up when it is necessary, and not be afraid to confront those who are hurting us.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. - William Shakespeare
  2. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. - Paulo Coelho
  3. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
  4. The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them. - Paulo Coelho
  5. By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius
More Quotes By Audre Lorde
  1. I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. I am...
  2. There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
  3. I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.. What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by...
  4. 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...
  5. 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...
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