“I am still learning – how to take joy in all the people I am, how to use all my selves in the service of what I believe, how to accept when I fail and rejoice when I succeed.”

I have been woman for a long time beware my smile I am treacherous with old magic.

But the true feminist deals out of a lesbian consciousness whether or not she ever sleeps with women.

Revolution is not a one time event.

Your silence will not protect you.

Sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing.

I am a Black, Lesbian, Feminist, Warrior, Poet, Mother – stronger for all my identities, and I am indivisible.

We are all in the process of becoming.

If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That’s the beginning of social protest.

Guilt and defensiveness are bricks in a wall against which we all flounder; they serve none of our futures.

Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.

The more I use my strength in the service of my vision the less I am afraid.

The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations that we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.

When times are hard, do something. If it works, do it some more. If it does not work, do something else. But keep going.

I have died too many deaths that were not mine.

What I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid?

To search for power within myself means I must be willing to move through being afraid to whatever lies beyond.

I think my desire to always get better, to always want more, to always be my top critic, and accepting the good and the bad.

It has become almost a cliché to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics.

In short, numbers are accepted as evidence when they agree with preconceptions, but not when they don’t.

You are the life you accept for yourself.

We’re no longer in the Cold War. Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable.

Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.

You have to just accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it, comfortable with knowing that that’s your body.

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.