Speaking Out Quotes

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
― Coco Chanel

“When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.”
― Bette Davis

“I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language."

I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared" or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever.

Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it's personal. And the world won't end.

And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don't miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And you will still flirt and paint your nails, dress up and party, because, as I think Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.”
― Audre Lorde

“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.”
― Audre Lorde

“A Litany for Survival

For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children's mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours:

For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother's milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.

And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.”
― Audre Lorde, The Black Unicorn: Poems

“My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.”
― Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals

“This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.”
― Euripides, The Phoenician Women

“Even to me the issue of "stay small, sweet, quiet, and modest" sounds like an outdated problem, but the truth is that women still run into those demands whenever we find and use our voices.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.

Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“It’s not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed on our behalf, perhaps it’s the most patriotic thing we can do.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent.”
― Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

“To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not.”
― Germany Kent

“Cindy, when you went to sleep this night, you did not know you would take the first step of the proverbial thousand-mile journey before the next dawn. You will need genuine strength for each step. Remember, truth is the only source of genuine strength on planet Earth.”
― Shafter Bailey, Cindy Divine: The Little Girl Who Frightened Kings

“Yawns are not the only infectious things out there besides germs.

Giggles can spread from person to person.

So can blushing.

But maybe the most powerful infectious thing is the act of speaking the truth.”
― Vera Nazarian

“I am not anxious to be the loudest voice or the most popular. But I would like to think that at a crucial moment, I was an effective voice of the voiceless, an effective hope of the hopeless.”
― Whitney M. Young Jr.

“Only by speaking out can we create lasting change. And that change begins with coming out.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“And even when they refuse to listen, I'll keep talking anyway, hoping on a slim chance that the things inside my head are worth something to someone.”
― Nadège Richards, 5 Miles

“Fools multiply when wise men are silent.”
― Nelson Mandela

“I'm a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador, so I'm all about giving youth an education, a voice and a chance to not take the wrong road.”
― Benedict Cumberbatch

“We all have a sphere of influence. Each of us needs to find our own sources of courage so that we can begin to speak. There are many problems to address, and we cannot avoid them indefinitely. We cannot continue to be silent. We must begin to speak, knowing that words alone are insufficient. But I have seen that meaningful dialogue can lead to effective action. Change is possible.”
― Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

“The act of speaking out makes you alone.”
― Ravish Kumar, The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation

“I always like to say "be the Swede". Show up for the vulnerable, do your part, help each other and face the darkest parts alongside survivors.”
― Chanel Miller

“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, These Shallow Graves

“Remember your words can plant gardens or burn whole forests down”
― Gemma Troy

“I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me.”
― Douglas Stone, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

“We should concern ourselves instead with those who stay silent to save themselves rather than speak the truth regardless of personal cost.”
― Ousmane K. Power-Greene, The Confessions of Matthew Strong

“When words fail, silence will not be our answer. We will find new ways to speak, new ways to be heard, and we will stand tall, unwavering in our resolve.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya, Slipping into another world

“When they want me to be silenced, it just means I need to speak louder.”
― Riley Gaines

“Young or old, when you wake to news of bombs falling, genocide, and rising fascism—you’ll want to crawl back under the covers. That’s the point. They’d gladly keep you there, in the dark, while they profit from your silence. Throw the covers off. Shine a bright light. Let your voice be heard.”
― Lawrence Nault

“We speak of tipping points as if they belong to the climate. But humans have them too—the quiet moment when someone stands, speaks, and refuses to sit down again.”
― Lawrence Nault