Audre Lorde Quotes

Freedom is the right to question, and change the established way of doing things.…It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among the people. It is the right to dream-- to follow your dream, or stick to your conscience, even if you're the only one in a sea of doubters.

What counts alone is the innovator, the dissenter, the harbinger of things unheard of, the man who rejects the traditional standards and aims at substituting new values and ideas for old ones.

No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law.

The essence of my way of doing business is to not accept the traditional way things are done.

The power of yes: that's what allows creativity to breathe and to come in. That's what allows your ideas to become living, breathing, moving dreams in action.

Get unstuck from whatever it is you perceive is holding you back from realizing your dreams.

No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law. How can it be within the law?

Sometimes we drug ourselves with dreams of new ideasl The head will save us. The brain alone will set us free. But there are no new ideas waiting in the wings to save us as women, as human. There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves--along with the renewed courage to try them out.

Just 'cause somethin' ain't been done Don't mean it can't be did.

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

Greatness, in the last analysis, is largely bravery - courage in escaping from old ideas and old standards and respectable ways of doing things.

Being stuck is a position few of us like. We want something new but cannot let go of the old - old ideas, beliefs, habits, even thoughts. We are out of contact with our own genius. Sometimes we know we are stuck; sometimes we don't. In both cases we have to DO something.

I love challenging the status quo.

If no one ever broke the rules, then we'd never advance.

Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more.

We need role models who are going to break the mold.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you're going to innovate.

A key ingredient in innovation is the ability to challenge authority and break rules.

I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

If your goal is to change the world, you can't start by doing things the same old way because it sells better.

Pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable - to me, that's something I'm definitely interested in and want to pursue.

When I started, my teachers told me that I had to sing 'Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.' I said, 'No, I want to sing all the other stuff.' If you do not push yourself, you will stay the same. Maybe some singers are happy with that, but I have to move, I have to do something new always.

When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.

If you're not doing something different, you're not doing anything.

Human progress is furthered, not by conformity, but by aberration.