Audre Lorde — Quote from Uses of the Erotic
“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them.”
Uses of the Erotic (1978)
Concepts: love, solidarity, meaning
Resonant Quotes
- “The deepest need of man is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave th...” — Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving Lorde's metaphor of joy creating bridges between people provides the exact mechanism by which Fromm's 'prison of alon...
- “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of comm...” — bell hooks, All About Love Both authors recognize connection as fundamentally healing and transformative—Lorde's joy-sharing bridges and hooks' ...
- “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever ...” — Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan Lorde's mechanism of joy-sharing as bridge-building directly illuminates Vonnegut's imperative to love whoever is pre...
- “Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.” — Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving Both authors identify human connection as fundamental to existence, with Fromm positioning love as the solution to ex...
- “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. To be healed we must come...” — bell hooks, All About Love Both thinkers articulate how genuine connection transcends isolation—hooks through the necessity of communal healing ...
- “To catch a glimmer of oneself in the other — this is the deepest joy the huma...” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity Lorde's bridge of shared joy that enables understanding of differences beautifully complements Beauvoir's recognition...
- “The soul is healed by being with children.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot Both identify specific forms of human connection—Lorde's shared joy and Dostoevsky's presence of children—as transfor...
- “The soul is healed by being with children.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot Both identify specific forms of human connection—Lorde's shared joy and Dostoevsky's presence of children—as transfor...