“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.”

“I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.”

“some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.”

“I realize that I cannot stand by silently as my government executes its citizens. If I do not speak out and resist, I am an accomplice.”

“I go silent so I can write. When my tongue is wagging my fingers are silent.”

“The standard heroes and heroines of novels, are personages in whom I could never, from childhood upwards, take an interest, believe to be natural, or wish to imitate: were I obliged to copy these characters, I would simply -- not write at all. Were I obliged to copy any former novelist, even the greatest, even Scott, in anything , I would not write -- Unless I have something of my own to say, and a way of my own to say it in, I have no business to publish; unless I can look beyond the greatest Masters, and study Nature herself, I have no right to paint; unless I can have the courage to use the language of Truth in preference to the jargon of Conventionality, I ought to be silent.”