Speaking Up Quotes

“I've seen it happen over and over again: a black person gets killed just for being black, and all hell breaks loose. I’ve tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr, and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down.

Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”
― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

“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

“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

“But you know all about that, being sorry and having no words to say something when you know you should but you just can't”
― Heather Gudenkauf, The Weight of Silence

“I don't know if you realise how you speak to people sometimes, the way you feed people table scraps. I know that's that what I get from you, table scraps, but because it's scraps from your table, it's better than a 3 course meal with someone else. And you've given me glimpses into your life, your real life, and I wonder if it's your fault. I wonder if you've got anything but scraps to give.”
― Eliza Clark, Boy Parts

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

“In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality, and of what I wished and wanted for my life, however short it might be, priorities and omissions became strongly etched in a merciless light and what I most regretted were my silences. Of what had Ieverbeen afraid? To question or to speak as I believed could have meant pain, or death. But we all hurt in so many different ways, all the time, and pain will either change, or end. Death, on the other hand, is the final silence. And that might be coming quickly, now, without regard for whether I had ever spoken what needed to be said, or had only betrayed myself into small silences, while I planned someday to speak, or waited for someone else's words. And I began to recognize a source of power within myself that comes from the knowledge that while it is most desirable not to be afraid, learning to put fear into a perspective gave me great strength.

I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.”
― Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals

“Now is the time to dissect and look at every angle in the distasteful world of bullying. Now is the time for us to put our best foot forward and take on the responsibility of saving our children from being killed or destroyed by bullying; also, known as the Silent Killer.”
― CHARLENA E JACKSON

“What I'm realizing is that if you're quiet about the things that hurt you, people are only going to mistake your tolerance for permission.”
― Ann Liang, I Hope This Doesn't Find You

“Wir sind das Volk!"

Dieser Satz hat uns gelehrt, dass wir, wenn wir unserer Sehnsucht glauben und ihr vertrauen, die Angst verlieren können. Eine Angst, die willfährige Dienerin jeder Art von nicht legitimierter Herrschaft ist, die uns ohnmächtig macht, die uns bindet. In dem Augenblick aber, in dem wir unsere Angst als Angst benennen und Anpassung und Angst als Geschwisterkinder erkennen, sind wir möglicherweise bereit zu erproben: Können wir auch ohne sie leben? In genau diesem Augenblick wachsen uns jene Kräfte zu, die eine ganze Gesellschaft verändern können.”
― Joachim Gauck, Freiheit. Ein Plädoyer

“Speaking up, especially in childhood, is one of the hardest acts a person can do. It requires immense courage and sacrifice.”
― Jennifer Fraser, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health

“But I have learned in the last year, more than ever before, that sometimes we have to be loud.”
― Atia Abawi, Hope Nation

“You should have spoken up sooner." her grandmother answered. "No need to bear pain unless you have to.”
― Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming

“Waiting your turn is often the worst way to get what you want.”
― John Taylor Gatto

“Speaking up is a skill; what, when and how to talk is an art.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, You By You

“In one study investigating employee experiences with speaking up, 85% of respondents reported at least one occasion when they felt unable to raise a concern with their Boss es, even though they believed the issue was important.”
― Amy C. Edmondson

“If we do not acknowledge our collective trauma, how can we ever heal from it? When we speak, when we share, we can change things. Maybe even change the world.”
― Seth King, All We Ever Wanted

“Speaking up for people who don’t have a voice is important...It's the right thing to do, even if it's hard.”
― Lindsay Currie, The Girl in White

“I don’t understand someone like you! You let people create rumors about you! Yes, they set you up, but do you know who gave them the power to do that? You! And your silence! I don’t know who taught you this, but suffering in silence is no way to live, Amelia! How can anyone help you if they don’t even know something is wrong?”
― Eunice Amnell, The Pack Outcast

“Being a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad.”
― George Orwell

“Maddy stared at the backs turned to her, the reflection of the two smirking faces that watched in the mirror. Watched the way kids watched all day long – sideways in their desks, sneering over their lunches, and tossing endless comments as they passed in the halls. Gone was the memory of Leanne and the team; gone was the inner voice telling her to keep cool, to shut the hell up and get out of there. Inside her brain, heat swelled, fused into quantum thermodynamics, and exploded.”
― Beth Goobie, The Pain Eater

“When I know who I am, I will most likely know what my voice needs to say.”
― Karl Forehand, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity

“there were times
when i needed. no.
and
it was not there for me.
– the third parent”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Nejma

“Speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. Fight for the rights of others. Because one day you may need someone to speak up for you.”
― Jeanette Coron

“Defend the rights of someone you disagree with today, so that your rights can be defended tomorrow.”
― Jeanette Coron

“Michael responded, “Remember earlier, you said that speaking up was called ‘speaking up’ and not ‘speaking down?’ You are right in saying that speaking up really does bring you up. You won’t have pent up emotions that weigh you down, so you could rise. But… once we rise… the Capacia---” he paused--- “they want us to fall, so although speaking up itself doesn’t directly cause you to fall, those who want us to fall are able to make us fall, so in the end, you go down. It’s not ‘speaking down.’ It’s simply being forced down.”
― Lucy Carter, The Reformation

“Humanity wears the cloak of being rational and civilized. It is a sneering veneer developed, built and used to cope with the brutality of others’ agendas. But this is the cycle that destroys. It is a wheel that never stops turning once you get on it. To break this type of wheel—good intention, follow through and deep pauses are the tools of the crucibles in which we must testify against the norms created in this world. The first step is to speak up in the language or the voice that is your given right.”
― Reena Doss

“I felt I had the right to not be a trustworthy person. It was good to make that clear, even if it worked against my professional future; from now on you should be aware that assigning me a job includes the possibility that I’ll quit halfway through. That was more or less how I put it. It was the closest I would come in this business to an outburst of dignity.”
― Margarita García Robayo, La encomienda

“I learned early how to smile and nod even when the situation was unpleasant for me. I didn’t know any alternative. I hadn’t been taught I could end an interaction if I didn’t like it; that it was okay to be impolite to people who were making me uncomfortable.”
― Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're Taking Back Our Power

“Often it is the silence of the good that becomes the most devious thing.”
― Alexander Semenyuk