Audre Lorde Quotes That Will Ignite Your Courage & Love

Introduction

Quotes can do what long essays sometimes cannot: they cut through doubt, name a feeling, and offer a spark to act. Audre Lorde’s words are especially fierce and tender—perfect for moments you need courage, motivation, clarity, or care. Use these quotes as morning affirmations, captions, journal prompts, rallying cries, or gentle reminders to keep speaking and living your truth.

Motivational Quotes

• "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." — Audre Lorde
• "I am deliberate and afraid of nothing." — Audre Lorde
• "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." — Audre Lorde
• "Your silence will not protect you." — Audre Lorde
• "If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive." — Audre Lorde

Courage & Power Quotes

• "I have come to believe over and over again 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
• "There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." — Audre Lorde
• "Anger is loaded with information and energy." — Audre Lorde
• "We were never meant to survive." — Audre Lorde
• "My silences had not protected me." — Audre Lorde

Self-Love & Care Quotes

• "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." — Audre Lorde
• "I am my best work — a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines." — Audre Lorde
• "Poetry is not a luxury." — Audre Lorde
• "Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought." — Audre Lorde

Community & Justice Quotes

• "Without community there is no liberation; but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist." — Audre Lorde
• "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." — Audre Lorde
• "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change." — Audre Lorde
• "There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." — Audre Lorde (reiterated for emphasis)

Creativity & Expression Quotes

• "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
• "What are the words you do not have yet? What do you need to say?" — Audre Lorde
• "For those of us who live at the shoreline, standing upon the constant edges of decision..." — Audre Lorde
• "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own." — Audre Lorde

Daily Inspiration Quotes

• "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." — Audre Lorde (repeat for daily courage)
• "I am deliberate and afraid of nothing." — Audre Lorde (a short, steady mantra)
• "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." — Audre Lorde (a reminder to build new solutions)
• "Your silence will not protect you." — Audre Lorde (a call to speak daily, even small truths)

Conclusion

Audre Lorde’s writing is a practice in naming, resisting, and loving. Keep a few of these quotes where you’ll see them—phone lock screen, journal, or workspace—and let them nudge your thinking and action. Small reminders become habits; repeated courage becomes courage you live.