When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
The unexpected action of deep listening can create a space of transformation capable of shattering complacency and despair.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Deep listening has the power to transform people's perspectives and break through feelings of stagnation or hopelessness.
This quote highlights the profound impact that truly listening to others can have. When we engage in deep listening, we not only show empathy and understanding but also create an environment where meaningful change can occur. This act has the potential to awaken individuals from a state of complacency or despair, encouraging new insights and personal growth.
Themes
ListeningTransformationEmpathyChangeCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing community issues, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of listening to diverse voices.
More from Terry Tempest Williams
All quotes βThe human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit-a living democracy?
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn, and to sing at dusk, was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
I am slowly, painfully discovering that my refuge is not found in my mother, my grandmother, of even the birds of Bear River. My refuge exists in my capacity to love. If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
How do we remain faithful to our own spiritual imagination and not betray what we know in our own bodies? The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
The Eyes of the Future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
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The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
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Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.
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I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other and that the taller we grew in Christian character, the more easily we should reach them. I find now that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other and that is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping lower and that we have to go down, always down to get His best ones.
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Who does his task from day to day and meets whatever comes his way, Believing God has willed it so, has found real greatness here below. Who guards his post, no matter where, believing God must need him there, Although but lowly toil it be, has risen to nobility. For great and low there's just one test, 'tis that each man shall do his best, Who works with all the strength he can, shall never die in debt to man.
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In short, Clevinger was one of those people with lots of intelligence and no brains, and everyone knew it except those who soon found it out.
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Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.
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