“Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.”

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.