“Because we were not in our country, we could not use our own languages, and so when we spoke our voices came out bruised. When we talked, our tongues thrashed madly in our mouths, staggered like drunken men. Because we were not using our languages we said things we did not mean; what we really wanted to say remained folded inside. trapped. In America we did not always have the words. It was only when were were by ourselves that we spoke in our real voices. When we were alone we summoned the horses of our languages and mounted their backs and galloped past skyscrapers. Always, we were reluctant to come back.”
Quote by NoViolet Bulawayo
Book:We Need New Names
Work
We Need New Names
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: We Need New Names
“We're hungry but we're together and we're at home and everything is sweeter than dessert.”
Source: We Need New Names
“If these walls could talk, the buildings would stutter, wouldn't remember their names.”
Source: We Need New Names
Source: The Book of Not
Source: We Need New Names
Source: Sweet Medicine
Source: We Need New Names
Source: We Need New Names
Source: We Need New Names
