Quotes About Speech

Our words become our attitudes and our attitudes become our life.

The mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse,' says Proverbs 10:11 (MSG).

Madness, not just physical abuse, was the punishment for too much talk if you were female. Yet even as this fear of madness haunted me, hanging over my writing like a monstrous shadow, I could not stop the words making thought, writing speech. For this terrible madness which I feared, which I was sure was the destiny of daring women born to intense speech (after all, the authorities emphasized this point daily), was not as threatening as imposed silence, as suppressed speech.

Moving from silence into speech is for the oppressed, the colonized, the exploited, and those who stand and struggle side by side a gesture of defiance that heals, that makes new life and new growth possible.

Certainly, for black women, our struggle has not been to emerge from silence into speech but to change the nature and direction of our speech, to make a speech that compels listeners, one that is heard.

I was a young girl buying bubble gum at the corner store when I first really heard the full name bell hooks. I had just 'talked back' to a grown person. Even now I can recall the surprised look, the mocking tones that informed me I must be kin to bell hooks - a sharp-tongued woman, a woman who spoke her mind, a woman who was not afraid to talk back. I claimed this legacy of defiance, of will, of courage, affirming my link to my female ancestors who were bold and daring in their speech.

Totalitarianism always starts with restrictions on the rights of others. We must avoid this at all costs. George Washington even said, "If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

And, you know, what we need to do—[applause]what we need to do in this PC world is forget about unanimity of speech and unanimity of thought, and we need to concentrate on being respectful to those people with whom we disagree.

What is the best thing that happens if we refuse to abide by the dictates of political correctness? I believe that we could return to a nation that truly cherishes freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life. PROVERBS 18:21

Arsenius always used to say this, 'Why, words, did I let you get out? I have often been sorry that I have spoken, never that I have been silent.

Words are like breath. You say them and they're gone. But writing traps them.

He has a mouth, lord, Gerbruht said. I envy him, I said. Envy him, lord? Most of us have to lower our trews to shit.

Weil die Wahrheit dessen, was man redet, das ist, was man tut, kann man das Reden auch lassen.

It is clear that the most elementary condition, if thought is to be free, is the absence of legal penalties for the expression of opinions. No great country has yet reached to this level, although most of them think they have.

Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:37

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who is also able to control his whole body. James 3:2

The reflections of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. Proverbs 16:1

From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is satisfied; he is filled with the product of his lips. Proverbs 18:20

When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. John 8:44

In accordance with what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, and therefore speak. 2 Corinthians 4:13

The challenge of a tamed tongue is so great that we'd be wise to give it daily attention in prayer.

Being created in the image of our omnipotent God, our spoken words are potent. Speaking what we believe—even from ourselves to ourselves—is like inviting our souls to a pep rally. Vocalized words stir enthusiasm.