Audra > Audra's Quotes

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go”
― Herman Hesse

“You know who wears sunglasses inside? Blind people and assholes.”
― Larry David

“Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ”
― Paulo Freire

“The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.”
― Paulo Freire

“One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it.”
― John Henrik Clarke, Africans at the Crossroads: African World Revolution

“Whoever is in control of the hell in your life, is your devil.”
― John Henrik Clarke

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
― Hippocrates

“Don't condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water, [.....] just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won't have to say that yours is better.”
― Elijah Muhammad

“Couples who rarely or never have sex can know lifelong love.
”
― bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
― Nelson Mandela

“Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread, and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.”
― Shirley Chisholm

“So much of America's tragic and costly failure to care for all its children stems from our tendency to distinguish between our own children and other people's children--as if justice were divisible.”
― Marian Wright Edelman

“If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.”
― Marian Wright Edelman

“I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And throw thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
just last week, I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick.
I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”
― Muhammad Ali

“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”
― Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery

“True justice is paying only once for each mistake. True injustice is paying more than once for each mistake.”
― don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

“Beware of the national elections, my black brothers and sisters. There is no salvation in them for you—only false promises. The only salvation for you and me now is in unity and being under the guidance of Allah through His Messenger and His program for us all.”
― Elijah Muhammad, Message To The Blackman In America

“I was born in the South. I married and went to Detroit with my two children in 1923. I know the South and the Southern white people. They are actually a people who envy any success that comes to he so called Negro in any way. If you own a little more than the white man there, why he’s against you; he may even kill you. He may bomb you or destroy your property. He just doesn’t like the fact of your having anything. Whether in court, in justice or in any way. This is naturally in their blood. They want the black man to have nothing”
― Elijah Muhammad, Message To The Blackman In America

“very different. Black people have a heart of gold, love and mercy. Such a heart, nature did not give to the white race. This is where the so-called Negroes are deceived in this devil race. They think they have the same kind of heart; but the white race knows better. They have kept it as a secret among themselves, that they may be able to deceive the black people. They have been, and still are, successful in deceiving the black man, under the disguise of being the ones who want peace, love and friendship with the world, and with God - at the same time making war with the world, to destroy peace, love and friendship of the black nation.”
― Elijah Muhammad, Message To The Blackman In America

“We will be judged by how well we love.”
― Toni Morrison, Desdemona

“It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.”
― Margaret Wheatley

“Amid all the information available in our environment, which identity filter(s) do you use? Are you dedicated to popularity, to a role, to a cause, an ethic, a nation, an ethnicity? What identity gives meaning to your life?”
― Margaret J. Wheatley, Who Do We Choose to Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity

“Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.”
― Margaret Wheatley

“Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.”
― Margaret J. Wheatley

“To name is to make visible.”
― Margaret Wheatley, Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now

“Not everything is as it seems, and not everything that seems is. Between being and seeming there is always a point of agreement, as if being and seeming were two inclined planes that converge and become one. There is a slope and the possibility of sliding down that slope, and when that happens, one reaches a point at which being and seeming meet.”
― José Saramago

“The perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other”
― Kate Stewart, Loving the White Liar

“For what it’s worth... it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”
― Jomo Kenyatta