I am not only a casualty, I am also a warrior.
We have too often been expected to speak all things to all people and speak everyone else’s position but our own.
You will never be able to defend your city while shouting.
Who I am is what fulfills me and fulfills the vision I have of the world.
How much of this truth can I bear to see and still live unblinded? How much of this pain can I use?
We’re supposed to see “universal” love as heterosexual. What I insist upon in my work is that there is no such thing as universal love in literature.
Guilt is only another way of avoiding informed action.
If you can’t change reality, change your perceptions of it.
What I leave behind has a life of its own.
We must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply and so many of our old ideas disparage.
Anger is loaded with information and energy.
Anger, used, does not destroy. Hatred does.
I am a reflection of my mother’s secret poetry as well as of her hidden angers.
I am a post-mastectomy woman who believes our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.
I have died too many deaths that were not mine.
There are many lesbians and gay men trapped by their fear into silence and invisibility, and they exist in a dim valley of terror wearing nooses of conformity.
Next time, ask: What’s the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare.
I believe one of the hardest things you can do is conquer your fears, but if you have a goal, then it’s your job to open up and let it be real no matter how scary it seems.
Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.
Every woman I have ever known has made a lasting impression on my soul.