I'm terrified of losing my voice.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep fear of losing one's ability to communicate and express oneself.
Christopher Hitchens, a renowned writer and speaker, articulated a profound concern about the potential loss of his voice. This sentiment encapsulates not just the literal fear of losing the ability to speak, but also symbolizes the broader anxiety surrounding the loss of personal agency, individuality, and the essence of one's identity. Our voice is a vital part of who we are and how we interact with the world; losing it can mean losing our power to influence, connect, and share our thoughts with others.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of free speech.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
It takes two to make a murder. There are born victims, born to have their throats cut, as the cut-throats are born to be hanged.
Man is a special being, and if left to himself, in an isolated condition, would be one of the weakest creatures; but associated with his kind, he works wonders.
I was the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade, but Jane Roe has been laid to rest.
If then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessing great means and influence and yet who employs those faculties for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion-I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape.
I was early taught by sorrow to shed tears, and now when sudden joy lights up, or any unexpected sorrow strikes my heart, I find it difficult to repress the full and swelling tide of feeling.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.