We must wake up knowing we have work to do and go to bed knowing we've done it.

When we create out of our experiences, as feminists of color, women of color, we have to develop those structures that will present and circulate our culture.

There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.

We must wake up knowing we have work to do and go to bed knowing we've done it.

My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.

Pain is an event ... Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain.

Because the machine will try to grind you into dust anyway, whether or not we speak.