“There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
“Lying is done with words, and also with silence.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
“If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering of the most powerless. You build from the ground up.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
“Poems are like dreams: in them you put what you don't know you know.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
“In a world where language and naming are power, silence is oppression, is violence.”
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"Change is not a threat to your life, but an invitation to live."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"Courage is not defined by those who fought and did not fall, but by those who fought, fell and rose again."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"Language is power... Language can be used as a means of changing reality."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"Until we know the assumptions in which we are drenched, we cannot know ourselves."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"It is important to possess a short-term pessimism and a long-term optimism."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
"All new learning looks at first like chaos."
— Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)