Speaking Out Quotes

when you speak about feminism
they like to hit you with things
i call 'what about's–
what about women in the middle east
what about women in third world countries
what about focusing on them and not the problems here

and this all sounds good in theory
yes
we need to help them
yes
we need to help young girls
trapped in child marriages
yes
we need to help women
marred by acid attacks
yes
we need to help victims
of human trafficking
yes
we need to help women
who wil be imprisioned
beaten
killed
for speaking out about their sexual assault
for getting an abortion
for leaving an abusive husband

yes
we need to help them
of couse we do
it is our job as decent humans
to help them

but we can help them
and help ourselves at the same time

we can help young girls
in child marriages

and we can fight to end
the objectification of young girls
here

we can help women
marred by acid attacks

and we can work harder
to arrest abusers and assailants
here

we can help victims
of human trafficking

and we can stop stigma and violence
against sex workers
here

we can help women
who will be
imprisioned for speaking out about their sexual assault
beaten for getting an abortion
killed for lea ~ Catarine Hancock

The act of speaking out makes you alone. ~ Ravish Kumar

You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a (flag) pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest ... ~ Barack Obama

Not everyone will support you. If you take every insult or rude slur from people personally, you will always be offended for the rest of your life. So give up worrying about if people support you or not. If they do, it will show. If it doesn't, who cares. ~ Lorenzo Dozier

I won't stay silent anymore, not when speaking out can make a difference. ~ Romina Russell

I believe that the quantum of our knowledge will increase considerably in the coming years and that scientists will continue to be amongst the brave voices speaking out. ~ Peter Garrett

All great questions must be raised by great voices, and the greatest voice is the voice of the people - speaking out - in prose, or painting or poetry or music; speaking out - in homes and halls, streets and farms, courts and cafes - let that voice speak and the stillness you hear will be the gratitude of mankind. ~ Robert Kennedy

We must be courageous in speaking out on the issues that concern us:
We must not bend under the weight of spurious arguments
invoking culture or traditional values.
No value worth the name supports the oppression
and enslavement of women.
The function of culture and tradition is to provide
a framework for human well-being.
If they are used against us, we will reject them, and move on. We will not allow ourselves to be silenced. ~ Nafis Sadik

I write to say what I cannot speak ~ Ben Mitchell

My mistake was not in speaking out. No, my mistake was staying silent for too long. ~ Hannah Harrington

You do not deserve most of what has happened or will. But there is something I can offer you. Whoever you are. Out there. As lonely as it gets, you are not alone. There is another kind of love.
It's the love of art. Because I believe in art the way other people believe in god.
In art I've met an army of people - a tribe that gives good company and courage and hope. In books and painting and music and film. This book? It's for you. It's water I made a path through. I'm not speaking out of my asshole when I say this.
Come in. The water will hold you. ~ Lidia Yuknavitch

In all my unhappiness I was moving, and suddenly, this moving became an expression, a speaking out ~ Mary Wigman

bravery does not prevent fear bravery emerges from fear speaking out declaring you will not be moved ~ Edgar Holmes

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. ~ Brene Brown

Many friends have expressed concern that a religious fanatic will try to kill me when I go to Africa. After all, I'll be speaking out against a crime many fundamentalists consider a holy practice. I'm sure my work will be dangerous, and I admit to being scared ... . But my faith tells me to be strong, that God led me down this path for a reason. He has work for me to do. This is my mission. And I believe that long before the day I was born, God chose the day I will die, so I can't change that. In the meantime, I might as well take a chance, because that's what I've done all my life. ~ Waris Dirie

Fucking shut up, you whining cow, you didn't mind spending the money!' yelled Simon, his jaw jutting again; and Andrew wanted to roar at his mother to stay silent: she blabbed when any idiot could have told her she should keep quiet, and she kept quiet when she might have done good by speaking out; she never learned, she never saw any of it coming. ~ J.K. Rowling

In the end, it was the secrets that held me hostage and fuelled my depression, but, once released, emancipation - from fear, shame, guilt and judgement - was finally possible. ~ B.G. Bowers

Speaking out about ritual abuse brings more information and potential understanding about this issue to a society steeped in denial. There are many similar or related horrors in the world that are also denied. ~ Jadelinn

George Bernard Shaw once said: "Capitalism has destroyed our
belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force."
When liberals make the argument that capitalism is the cause of all
of our problems, they are either speaking out of abject ignorance
or being totally disingenuous to protect their own political interests.
We have not had true free-market capitalism in this country on any
wide scale. Where we have had economic successes in this nation's
history, it has been those times when people have done something
outside of the government's involvement. Every single time the federal
government has been involved, it has created chaos, waste, and
corruption. The historical record is overwhelmingly one of gross
incompetence. ~ Ziad K. Abdelnour

My view is that we stand up for treating the animals in a considerate way, for completely renouncing the eating of meat and also for speaking out against it. This is what I do myself. And in this way many a one becomes aware of a problem that was put forward so late. ~ Albert Schweitzer

A thought can be cast down by speaking out loud words of resistance and words of God. ~ Sunday Adelaja

My numbers and my stats were exactly the same. I was doing what the coaches wanted me to do. And what I had been doing up to that point was enough to get me a very well-paying contract with the Vikings ... In my mind there was only one thing that had changed from the year before and the year I got cut: And that was I started speaking out in support of same-sex rights. ~ Chris Kluwe

I always think before I speak. I always think "I think I'll speak now. ~ John Alejandro King A.k.a. The Covert Comic

Children are supposed to be free spirits and dream chasers, thinking of limitless opportunities. They are supposed to be filled with light that shines with happiness and joy that shouldn't be dimmed or filled with darkness and fear. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

I don't mind expressing my opinions and speaking out against injustice. I would be doing this even if I wasn't a writer. I grew up in a household that believed in social justice. I have always understood myself as having an obligation to stand on the side of the silenced, the oppressed, and the mistreated. ~ Tayari Jones

From the start the proportion of asocials in the camp was about one-third of the total population, and throughout the first years prostitutes, homeless and 'work-shy' women continued to pour in through the gates. Overcrowding in the asocial blocks increased fast, order collapsed, and then followed squalor and disease.
Although we learn a lot about what the political prisoners thought of the asocials, we learn nothing of what the asocials thought of them. Unlike the political women, they left no memoirs. Speaking out after the war would mean revealing the reason for imprisonment in the first place, and incurring more shame. Had compensation been available they might have seen a reason to come forward, but none was offered.
The German associations set up after the war to help camp survivors were dominated by political prisoners. And whether they were based in the communist East or in the West, these bodies saw no reason to help 'asocial' survivors. Such prisoners had not been arrested as 'fighters' against the fascists, so whatever their suffering none of them qualified for financial or any other kind of help. Nor were the Western Allies interested in their fate. Although thousands of asocials died at Ravensbrück, not a single black- or green-triangle survivor was called upon to give evidence for the Hamburg War Crimes trials, or at any later trials.
As a result these women simply disappeared: the red-light districts they came from had been flattened by Allied ~ Sarah Helm

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES when we go against our instincts? What are the consequences of not speaking out? What are the consequences of guilt, shame, and doubt? ~ Terry Tempest Williams

I have been working with Women's Aid since 2003 when I became the charity's first Ambassador, and am so pleased to be able to be a part of the 'Real Man' campaign against domestic violence. I studied domestic violence at university and feel passionately that we need to raise awareness of violence against women and children and refuse to ignore it. Just by speaking out against domestic violence and being supportive of those directly affected we can all make a positive difference. ~ Will Young

When you're fighting for social justice, one of my biggest pet peeves is speaking out of ignorance. ~ Eva Longoria

General Colin Powell shocked a lot of people in Washington by speaking out against President Bush's policies, saying that the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. That's what I think he said - it was hard to hear him because he was being hustled out of the room to his cell in Guantanamo Bay. ~ Jay Leno

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

I know plenty of people who don't have children. And I also get a lot of people who say, 'Thank you for speaking out; my family don't understand why I don't want kids.' ~ Christina Hendricks

By speaking out of turn you refuse your turn to speak. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

One of the great changes wrought by the increased public awareness of Alzheimer's - and thank you, Nancy Reagan, you wonderful tough old dame, you - is that people in the early stages of the disease are now speaking out while they still have the capacity to do so. ~ Charlie Pierce

Churches were shut down and Stanislaw's father and three uncles had been sent to prison camps for speaking out. ~ Fannie Flagg

Genuine bravery for a writer ... It is about calmly speaking the truth when everyone else is silenced, when the truth cannot be expressed. It is about speaking out with a different voice, risking the wrath of the state and offending everyone, for the sake of the truth, and the writer's conscience. ~ Murong Xuecun

Has God called you to speak out for peace in a tense situation? Are there lives on the line God is calling you to stand up for, to declare peace to, and to encourage toward a non-violent solution?
If so, do it. You never know what might happen. Maybe the Lord is likewise sending you to save many lives from destruction. ~ Dillon Burroughs

Mathematics has always shown a curious ability to be applicable to nature, and this may express a deep link between our minds and nature. We are the Universe speaking out, a part of nature. So it is not so surprising that our systems of logic and mathematics sing in tune with nature. ~ George Zebrowski

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 Young

Writing is my passion. Words are the way to know ecstasy. Without them life is barren. The poet insists, language is a body of suffering and when you take up language you take up the suffering too. All my life I have been suffering for words. Words have been the source of the pain and the way to heal. Struck as a child for talking, for speaking out of turn, for being out of my place. Struck as a grown woman for not knowing when to shut up, for not being willing to sacrifice words for desire. Struck by writing a book that disrupts. There are many ways to be hit. Pain is the price we pay to speak the truth. ~ Bell Hooks

You are the Worst Kind of Animal. A Butcher by Day and a Pussy Cat by Night. ~ Monroe Ariel

There are examples of ex-presidents speaking out. Jimmy Carter has not held back on a variety of issues. Harry Truman didn't. ~ Robert Dallek

Speaking out takes courage, but fear can make a compelling argument. I'm not saying it will be easy, but telling the truth gives you power...It sets you free. ~ Katie McGarry

The Washington Post speaking out against state legislation that he believed would let businesses deny services to gay, lesbian and transgender people. [Tim] Cook himself came out as gay in the pages of Bloomberg Businessweek. ~ Laura Sydell

I think it's important that scared gay kids who aren't out yet see hate speech challenged. ~ J.K. Rowling

The intellectual, i n my sense of the word , is neither a pacifier nor a consensus-builder,but someone whose whole being is staked on a critical sense , a sense of being unwilling to accept easy formulas,or ready-made cliches, or the smooth, ever-so accommodating confirmations of what the powerful or conventional have to say, and what they do. Not just passively unwillingly, but actively willing to say so in public. This is not always a matter of being a critic of government policy, but rather of thinking of the intellectual vocation as maintaining a state of constant alertness, of a perpetual willingness not to let half-truths or received ideas steer one along. That this involves a steady realism, an almost athletic rational energy, and a complicated struggle to balance the problems of one's own selfhood against the demands of publishing and speaking out in the public sphere is what makes it an everlasting effort, constitutively unfinished and necessarily imperfect. Yet its invigorations and complexities, for me at least, make one the richer for it, even though it doesn't make one particularly popular. ~ Edward W. Said

Zionism is only around 100 years old. It is the transformation from religion to nationalism, to materialism created by non-religious Jews who hated their religion. The reason why they use the name Israel, the Star of David, hijacking, stealing the identity of Judaism and the Jewish people is in order to gain a legitimacy for their existence that should lead people to say, 'oh, it is God given to them' and that they should use fear and intimidate people from speaking out against their actions because they will call those that do anti Semitic; it couldn't be anything further from the Truth. ~ Yisroel Dovid Weiss

It takes courage to stand up for yourself. I stand in honor, and no longer in fear of speaking out. ~ Catherine Jane Fisher

Feedback is essential to growth. Be aware of the difference between genuine and faulty characters. It's hard to tell who is conforming to others opinions and who is speaking out of intellect and honesty to bring awareness to the people surrounding them. I have always fought to be the latter. The former has always made me withdraw from society. ~ Kristin Michelle Elizabeth

See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness. ~ Eckhart Tolle

Your voice may not be loud today or be heard today, but make sure you are still standing on your feet. ~ Sunday Adelaja

The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable. ~ Arundhati Roy

She's trying to change the subject, even though we weren't speaking out loud. ~ Colleen Hoover

It only takes one voice, at the right pitch, to start an avalanche. ~ Dianna Hardy

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

Domestic violence can be so easy for people to ignore, as it often happens without any witnesses and it is sometimes easier not to get involved. Yet, by publicly speaking out against domestic violence, together we can challenge attitudes towards violence in the home and show that domestic violence is a crime and not merely unacceptable. ~ Honor Blackman

Speaking out is important for me because everyone should be treated equally. ~ Lance Bass

Shades of gray. Even if our colors are bright, as long as we stay silent, we are like a gray mouse. In praise of our speaking out. ~ Lara Biyuts

If we are not being maligned, scandalizing those who still sleep in the church, then we are missing the incarnational call to love the world's most vulnerable, the world's exiled, the world's most wounded. Our concern should be what the poor and prostituted think of us, what the God of the universe thinks of us, not what those around us think of us. ~ Sarah Lance

Coming to terms with your sexual abuse and speaking out is necessary for healing. Whether is alone in a therapist's office, in a book or to simply share your trauma with a trusted person the truth always heals.
Let's not conform ourselves to live in silence with this trauma. Silence perpetuates more abuse. ~ Cecibel Contreras

I'd rather die for speaking out, than to live and be silent. ~ Confucius

Speak up and speak clearly. I want to hear what you have to say because it matters. Let's listen to each other and respect one another's opinions. Although, they may be different, wisdom allows us to be responsible for our own feelings and actions. ~ Felicia Johnson

Through most of what followed there were two of me on the phone, George who was speaking out loud and Jake on the inside, saying all the things George couldn't. Maybe there are always two on each end of the conversation when good love hangs in the balance. ~ Stephen King

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist. ~ Martin Niemoller

The oppressed suffer from the duality which has established itself in their innermost being. They discover that without freedom they cannot exist authentically. Yet, although they desire authentic existence, they fear it. They are at one and the same time themselves and the oppressor whose consciousness they have internalized. The conflict lies in the choice between being wholly themselves or being divided; between ejecting the oppressor within or not ejecting them; between human solidarity or alienation; between following prescriptions or having choices; between being spectators or actors; between acting or having the illusion of acting through the action of the oppressors; between speaking out or being silent, castrated in their power to create and re-create, in their power to transform the world. This is the tragic dilemma of the oppressed which their education must take into account. ~ Paulo Freire

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once...Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you're all in it now. ~ Joss Whedon

We looked at each other in a way we hadn't in a long time, maybe ever. There was a nameless moment. I realized we'd been speaking out loud since I got there, without Kelting a word. For the first time, I didn't know what she was thinking, and it was pretty clear she didn't know how I felt either. But then she did. She held out her arms and drew me into them because, for the first time, I was the one who was crying. ~ Kami Garcia

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

I have had to pay a price for leaving Islam and for speaking out. I have to pay for round-the-clock security because of the death threats against me. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

For me, it was a mission on the hill to sensitize people, because they don't know Muslim immigrants. And for the most part, a lot of us just keep our heads down. But if I can engage someone in conversation, someone who maybe does support Donald Trump, or at least isn't speaking out against him, and I can show him the fear that I have, then maybe I can turn that tide. ~ Andrew Aydin

I am plain-speaking out of both sides of my mouth. ~ Mason Cooley

Bullying is the "silent killer". Bullying shouldn't be taken lightly. Our children deserves to be heard. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Speaking out against rap music is useless, and it's futile. The reality is there's criticism for everything, but Jay-Z is one of the most remarkable artists of our time of any genre, and as a hip-hop artist he carries the weight of that art form with such splendor and grace and genius. ~ Michael Eric Dyson

I am not going to stop speaking out on behalf of policies that I think are right - regardless of ideology, party or political expediency. ~ Harold Ford, Jr.

The people in Arab countries are now speaking out and asking many questions about human rights, minorities, religion, democracy, "the other," and so on. ~ Hassan Blasim

At times you feel like you're the only voice speaking out to improve the working conditions of people, whether it's to be able to collectively bargain, to get adequate pay, to know that you can come home safe out of a coal mine. ~ Hilda Solis

The First Amendment was specifically designed for citizens to insult politicians. Libel laws were written to protect law students speaking out on political issues from getting called whores by Oxycontin addicts. ~ Bill Maher

Because it is a thousand pities never to say what one feels, he thought... ~ Virginia Woolf

And, as a general rule, it is more advisable to show your intelligence by saying nothing than by speaking out; for silence is a matter of prudence whilst speech has something in it of vanity ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

I think that's why we see this mixed reaction - Republican congressional leaders like Paul Ryan speaking out very firmly, but Republican candidates not as much, with the exception of the candidates in the single digits like Jeb Bush or Lindsey Graham, who said how to make America great again tell - Donald Trump to go to hell. ~ Mara Liasson

Anyone who's making a huge impact or speaking out about what they believe in or who's brave enough to be themselves is a superhero to me. ~ Emma Stone

English people are famous for never speaking out but only saying what they really feel about you behind your back. Americans believe the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I like exploring those, er, differences in national snippiness. ~ Rachel Johnson

Young children begin very early to internalize information that either encourages or discourages self-disclosure. Cues are intuitively understood. Most of what we feel is unexamined and articulated. Cultural norms are unwittingly absorbed. We learn when to speak and when to stay silent. - Pam MacRae (Ch. 2) ~ Rosalie De Rosset

THE OPENING OF EYES After R. S. Thomas That day I saw beneath dark clouds, the passing light over the water and I heard the voice of the world speak out, I knew then, as I had before, life is no passing memory of what has been nor the remaining pages in a great book waiting to be read. It is the opening of eyes long closed. It is the vision of far off things seen for the silence they hold. It is the heart after years of secret conversing, speaking out loud in the clear air. It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees before the lit bush. It is the man throwing away his shoes as if to enter heaven and finding himself astonished, opened at last, fallen in love with solid ground. ~ David Whyte

I'm not violent, I don't believe in killing people, but standing up for yourself, speaking out against injustice, is another form of vengeance. ~ Eva Gabrielsson

One of the best ways to stop the failed policies coming out of Congress is to bring in the ideas and the involvement of the American people, which the America Speaking Out project is designed to do. ~ Peter Roskam

We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, towards it's own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them-the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts. ~ Paulo Coelho

Poetry and music are the best at the highest level of the human mind. Out of poetry, out of their need for poetry, human beings have developed the idea of God. And so when we sing, when we dance, when we speak poetry we are speaking out of God's mouth, each other out of the music from God's heart. ~ Maya Angelou

When girls see women in leadership roles speaking out for what they believe in, they see it is possible for them, too. Instead of a faraway dream, their aspirations become real, concrete and achievable. Womanhood starts to look more inviting. ~ Tabby Biddle

Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. ~ Reni Eddo-Lodge

We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels & free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep & conformists. ~ Bill Maher

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The greatest talent one can have is learning when to speak and when to not. ~ Bryant A. Loney

At 11, 12, I thought I was clumsy, ugly, a mess, an unappealing person, but I did have the gift of the gab. I had the school record at Haberdashers for consecutive detentions for simply speaking out of turn. ~ Simon Schama

You try to separate yourselves from history. You pretend its ugliness could never happen where you are. But it can...and it does, when normal people, en mass, allow worse and worse shit to go down because either they're too ignorant to understand or they're being corrupted by the powers that control the country. That's how this starts, that's how it gets too far. PLEASE see the signs. Please. This is human nature...to miss the boat out of fear or anger about others "taking what's ours" and so we allow (or cheer on) heinousness one step at a time until, before you know it, you're living in a nightmare of epic proportions and history sees you as the villain you became.

DON'T BECOME A VILLAIN. BE THE VOICE THAT BREAKS THE INSANITY OPEN. ~ Jennifer DeLucy

To hint at a fault does more mischief than speaking out; for whatever is left for the imagination to finish will not fail to be overdone ... ~ Hannah More

Take the example of my daughter. A lot of people were speaking out about education when the Taliban were bombing schools in Swat Valley, but Malala's voice was like a crescendo. It spread all around the world. She was the smallest but her voice was the biggest, because she was speaking for herself. ~ Ziauddin Yousafzai

Let them hear your voice so rarely that a simply-uttered word creates a hush of expectancy in the room. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

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

I believe that the most essential element of our defense of freedom is our insistence on speaking out for the cause of religious liberty. ~ Ronald Reagan