--- title: "4 Powerlessness Quotes By Audre Lorde" description: "4 Powerlessness quotes by Audre Lorde. Plus more from Audre Lorde and more Powerlessness sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec8/audre-lorde-758_accepting_sadomasochism-is-an-institutionalized-ce_374131.jpg" --- > [Sadomasochism is an institutionalized celebration of dominant/subordinate relationships. And, it prepares us either to accept subordination or to enforce dominance. Even in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/sadomasochism-is-an-institutionalized-celebration-of-dominant/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec8/audre-lorde-758_accepting_sadomasochism-is-an-institutionalized-ce_374131.jpg) > [“I do not wish my anger and pain and fear about cancer to fossilize into yet another silence, nor to rob me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear-about-cancer-to-fossilize/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/audre-lorde-758_anger-and-pain_i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear_1661759.jpg) > [“in touch with the erotic, I become less willing to accept the powerlessness, or those other supplied states of being which are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-willing-to-accept-the/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/audre-lorde-758_depression_in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-w_2397543.jpg) > [Silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand-with-powerlessness/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07e/audre-lorde-758_hand-in-hand_silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand_2648608.jpg) ## Other authors on Powerlessness - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-warren-farrell-94555.jpg) Warren Farrell 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/warren-farrell/) ## More by Audre Lorde > [Every woman I have ever loved has left her print upon me, where I loved some invaluable piece of myself apart from me-so different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/every-woman-i-have-ever-loved-has-left-her-print-upon-me-where-i/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [There are many kinds of open. . . Love is a word, another kind of open. . . Take my word for jewel in your open light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/there-are-many-kinds-of-open-love-is-a-word-another-kind-of-open-take/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [Your silence will not protect you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/your-silence-will-not-protect-you/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [I can't really define it in sexual terms alone although our sexuality is so energizing why not enjoy it too?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-can-t-really-define-it-in-sexual-terms-alone-although-our-sexuality/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“For once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/for-once-we-begin-to-feel-deeply-all-the-aspects-of-our-lives-we/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [the fear of death is that you are dying too soon. Nobody wants to, but at the point that you die you can pray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/the-fear-of-death-is-that-you-are-dying-too-soon-nobody-wants-to-but/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“There is an important difference between openness and naïveté. Not everyone has good intentions nor means me well. I remind myself I do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/there-is-an-important-difference-between-openness-and-na-vet-not/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/what-are-the-words-you-do-not-yet-have-what-do-you-need-to-say-what/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [I learned to read from Mrs. Augusta Baker, the children's librarian. ... If that was the only good deed that lady ever did in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-learned-to-read-from-mrs-augusta-baker-the-children-s-librarian-if/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/poetry-is-not-only-dream-and-vision-it-is-the-skeleton-architecture/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“I think that in America there are certain kinds of problems and in Russia there are certain kinds of problems, but basically, when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-think-that-in-america-there-are-certain-kinds-of-problems-and-in/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [Institutionalized rejection of differences is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people. As members of such an economy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/institutionalized-rejection-of-differences-is-an-absolute-necessity/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/the-sharing-of-joy-whether-physical-emotional-psychic-or-intellectual/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“I forgot what we were celebrating. Because we were always celebrating something, a new job, a new poem, a new love, a new dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-forgot-what-we-were-celebrating-because-we-were-always-celebrating/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [How a diamond comes into a knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, coloured By who pays what for speaking. Some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/how-a-diamond-comes-into-a-knot-of-flame-how-a-sound-comes-into-a/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/audre-lorde/#itemlist", "name": "4 Powerlessness Quotes By Audre Lorde", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sadomasochism is an institutionalized celebration of dominant/subordinate relationships. And, it prepares us either to accept subordination or to enforce dominance. 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For other women of all ages, colors, and sexual identities who recognize that imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness, and for myself, I have tried to voice some of my feelings and thoughts about the travesty of prosthesis, the pain of amputation, the function of cancer in a profit economy, my confrontation with mortality, the strength of women loving, and the power and rewards of self-conscious living.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Audre Lorde" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear-about-cancer-to-fossilize/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/audre-lorde-758_anger-and-pain_i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear_1661759.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/audre-lorde-758_anger-and-pain_i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear_1661759.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7b/audre-lorde-758_anger-and-pain_i-do-not-wish-my-anger-and-pain-and-fear_1661759.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I do not wish my anger and pain and fear about cancer to fossilize into yet another silence, nor to rob me…” — Audre Lorde", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“in touch with the erotic, I become less willing to accept the powerlessness, or those other supplied states of being which are not native to me, such as resignation, despair, self-effacement, depression, self-denial.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Audre Lorde" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-willing-to-accept-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/audre-lorde-758_depression_in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-w_2397543.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/audre-lorde-758_depression_in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-w_2397543.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a32/audre-lorde-758_depression_in-touch-with-the-erotic-i-become-less-w_2397543.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“in touch with the erotic, I become less willing to accept the powerlessness, or those other supplied states…” — Audre Lorde", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Audre Lorde" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand-with-powerlessness/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07e/audre-lorde-758_hand-in-hand_silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand_2648608.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07e/audre-lorde-758_hand-in-hand_silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand_2648608.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07e/audre-lorde-758_hand-in-hand_silence-and-invisibility-go-hand-in-hand_2648608.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness.” — Audre Lorde", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/audre-lorde/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/audre-lorde/", "name": "Powerlessness Quotes by Audre Lorde", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/audre-lorde/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec8/audre-lorde-758_accepting_sadomasochism-is-an-institutionalized-ce_374131.jpg" }, "description": "4 Powerlessness quotes by Audre Lorde. 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