--- title: "6 Collectives Quotes By Adrienne Rich" description: "6 Collectives quotes by Adrienne Rich. Plus more from Adrienne Rich and more Collectives sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/adrienne-rich-803_aquifers_in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-soci_38915.png" --- > [... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-social-compact-built-on-fantasy/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/adrienne-rich-803_aquifers_in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-soci_38915.png) > [.Women's Studies can amount simply to compensatory history; too often they fail to challenge the intellectual and political structures that must be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-compensatory-history-too-often/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cf/adrienne-rich-803_amount_women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-com_355688.png) > [In the States, there has been, compared to the Sixties and Seventies, a huge retrenchment - not just in poetry - into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to-the-sixties-and-seventies-a/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/adrienne-rich-803_becoming_in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to_1482352.jpg) > [I define "politics" as the on-going collective struggle for liberation and for the power to create - not only works of art,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collective-struggle-for-liberation/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b76/adrienne-rich-803_art_i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collec_1718620.png) > [When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-teacher-say-describes-the-world/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae1/adrienne-rich-803_authority_when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-tea_2316995.jpg) > [The difficulty of saying I-a phrase from the East German novelist Christa Wolf. But once having said it, as we realize the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-difficulty-of-saying-i-a-phrase-from-the-east-german-novelist/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e5/adrienne-rich-803_collectives_the-difficulty-of-saying-i-a-phrase-from_2816802.png) ## Other authors on Collectives ## More by Adrienne Rich > [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you...it means that you do not treat your body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/responsibility-to-yourself-means-refusing-to-let-others-do-your/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [What I search for continuously in my art is adequate language, language I hope can stand beyond any particular occasion. What I'm finding is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/what-i-search-for-continuously-in-my-art-is-adequate-language/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Well, she's long about her coming, who must be more merciless to herself than history. Her mind full to the wind, I see her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/well-she-s-long-about-her-coming-who-must-be-more-merciless-to/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [I think my work comes out of both an intense desire for connection and what it means to feel isolated. There's always going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-my-work-comes-out-of-both-an-intense-desire-for-connection/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrotea letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/popular-culture-entered-my-life-as-shirley-temple-who-was-exactly-my/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-social-compact-built-on-fantasy/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/it-s-as-if-in-the-mother-s-eyes-her-smile-her-stroking-touch-the/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The women's movement appeared at a very crucial moment in my life. There was a whole political movement asking such questions and others I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-women-s-movement-appeared-at-a-very-crucial-moment-in-my-life/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-word-revolution-itself-has-become-not-only-a-dead-relic-of/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The decision to feed the world is the real decision. No revolution has chosen it. For that choice requires that women shall be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-decision-to-feed-the-world-is-the-real-decision-no-revolution-has/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The necessity of poetry has to be stated over and over, but only to those who have reason to fear its power, or those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-necessity-of-poetry-has-to-be-stated-over-and-over-but-only-to/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [I think many poets, including myself, write both for the voice and for the page. I certainly write for the person alone in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-many-poets-including-myself-write-both-for-the-voice-and-for/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [If I cling to circumstances I could feel not responsible. Only she who says she did not choose, is the loser in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/if-i-cling-to-circumstances-i-could-feel-not-responsible-only-she-who/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/adrienne-rich/#itemlist", "name": "6 Collectives Quotes By Adrienne Rich", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-social-compact-built-on-fantasy/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/adrienne-rich-803_aquifers_in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-soci_38915.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/adrienne-rich-803_aquifers_in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-soci_38915.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/adrienne-rich-803_aquifers_in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-soci_38915.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": ".Women's Studies can amount simply to compensatory history; too often they fail to challenge the intellectual and political structures that must be challenged if women as a group are ever to come into collective, nonexclusionary freedom.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-compensatory-history-too-often/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cf/adrienne-rich-803_amount_women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-com_355688.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cf/adrienne-rich-803_amount_women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-com_355688.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cf/adrienne-rich-803_amount_women-s-studies-can-amount-simply-to-com_355688.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“.Women's Studies can amount simply to compensatory history; too often they fail to challenge the…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In the States, there has been, compared to the Sixties and Seventies, a huge retrenchment - not just in poetry - into the personal. A withdrawal from thinking in terms of social and collective values, needs and solutions. The consciousness-raising groups of the women's movement, for instance, becoming \"support-groups\" or therapy groups.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to-the-sixties-and-seventies-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/adrienne-rich-803_becoming_in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to_1482352.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/adrienne-rich-803_becoming_in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to_1482352.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/adrienne-rich-803_becoming_in-the-states-there-has-been-compared-to_1482352.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the States, there has been, compared to the Sixties and Seventies, a huge retrenchment - not just in…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I define \"politics\" as the on-going collective struggle for liberation and for the power to create - not only works of art, but also just and nonviolent social institutions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collective-struggle-for-liberation/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b76/adrienne-rich-803_art_i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collec_1718620.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b76/adrienne-rich-803_art_i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collec_1718620.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b76/adrienne-rich-803_art_i-define-politics-as-the-on-going-collec_1718620.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I define \"politics\" as the on-going collective struggle for liberation and for the power to create - not…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing. 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It takes some strength of soul--and not just individual strength, but collective understanding--to resist this void, this nonbeing, into which are thrust, and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-teacher-say-describes-the-world/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae1/adrienne-rich-803_authority_when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-tea_2316995.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae1/adrienne-rich-803_authority_when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-tea_2316995.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae1/adrienne-rich-803_authority_when-someone-with-the-authority-of-a-tea_2316995.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The difficulty of saying I-a phrase from the East German novelist Christa Wolf. But once having said it, as we realize the necessity to go further, isn't there a difficulty of saying 'we'? You cannot speak for me. I cannot speak for you. 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