“In order to be heard by the oppressing class, one must speak as a member of it. Not only the language, but the diction. The accusation of tyranny, however well-founded in fact, is dismissed unless it is delivered in the manner that power recognizes as powerful.”

“However well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is richer than diction.”

“Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.”

“In fact the wives of the patriarchs, all untruthful, and one a kleptomaniac, but illustrate the law, that the cardinal virtues are seldom found in oppressed classes.”

“No movement can claim to speak for all women unless it speaks for women who also face the consequences of racism, which places women of color overwhelmingly in the ranks of the working class and the poor. Race and class must be central to the project of women's liberation--not only in theory, but in practice--if it is to be meaningful to those women who are the most oppressed by the system.”

“In a world where language and naming are power, silence is oppression, is violence.”

“This is the contradiction of racism, colonialism, and all forms of tyranny: in order to treat a man like a dog, one must first recognize him as a man.”

“Speak against unconscious oppression,
Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative,
Speak against bonds.”

“An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.”

“Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.”