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Unspeakable Quotes

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Unspeakable Quotes

“The ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable. Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims. The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory, and fragmented manner that undermines their credibility and thereby serves the twin imperatives of truth-telling and secrecy. When the truth is finally recognized, survivors can begin their recovery. But far too often secrecy prevails, and the story of the traumatic event surfaces not as a verbal narrative but as a symptom. The psychological distress symptoms of traumatized people simultaneously call attention to the existence of an unspeakable secret and deflect attention from it. This is most apparent in the way traumatized people alternate between feeling numb and reliving the event. The dialectic of trauma gives rise to complicated, sometimes uncanny alterations of consciousness, which George Orwell, one of the committed truth-tellers of our century, called "doublethink," and which mental health professionals, searching for calm, precise language, call "dissociation." It results in protean, dramatic, and often bizarre symptoms of hysteria which Freud recognized a century ago as disguised communications about sexual abuse in childhood. . . .”

MindWisdomTruthHumanityHealingConsciousnessPowerPsychologySocietyCrimeAbuseMurderMemoryTraumaGravesHorribleRecoveryDenialGhostsPtsdRapeRestorationDissociationAtrocitiesUnspeakableSurvivorsVictimsSociety DenialFreudDissociativePosttraumatic Stress DisorderRepressed MemoryPsychological TraumaSigmund FreudTrauma TherapyRecovered MemoryViolations
Book:Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
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“On the ward there was hurt and pain so big and so deep that speech could not express it. I had been interested in philosophy, and suddenly philosophy came alive for me, for here the basic questions of human existence were not abstractions: they were embodied in human suffering”

SufferingMental IllnessEmotional PainUnspeakableHuman SufferingCompassion For OthersMental HospitalMental Illness QuotesPsychiatric HospitalEmotional Distress
Book:Unusual Associates: A Festschrift for Frank Barron
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“This book appears at a time when public discussion of the common atrocities of sexual and domestic life has been made possible by the women’s movement, and when public discussion of the common atrocities of political life has been made possible by the movement for human rights. I expect the book to be controversial—first, because it is written from a feminist perspective; second, because it challenges established diagnostic concepts; but third and perhaps most importantly, because it speaks about horrible things, things that no one really wants to hear about.”

AbuseHuman RightsFeministTraumaTerrorismTortureWomen S RightsPtsdDomestic ViolenceSexual AbuseControversialAtrocitiesUnspeakablePolitical LifeSociety DenialChallenging Status QuoHuman Rights ViolationsHorror Of WarPosttraumatic Stress DisorderTraumatic StressDenial Of AbuseDenial Of Child AbuseWomen S MovementDenial Of IncestHorror Of RapeHorror Of Life
Book:Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
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“I have tried to communicate my ideas in a language that preserves connections, a language that is faithful both to the dispassionate, reasoned traditions of my profession and to the passionate claims of people who have been violated and outraged. I have tried to find a language that can withstand the imperatives of doublethink and allows all of us to come a little closer to facing the unspeakable.”

AbuseTraumaRecoveryRapeUnspeakableTraumatic ExperiencesComplex PtsdHorror Of WarDoublethinkViolationsViolatedDouble ThinkHorror Of RapeViolations Of Human RightsHorror Of IncestAtrocitisTrauma And Recovery
Book:Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
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“Unspeakable feelings need to find expression in words. However... verbalization of very intense feelings may be a difficult task.”

CuttingTraumaOverwhelmedUnbearableEmotional PainUnspeakableSelf HarmTraumatizedSelf InjuryTrauma SurvivorsHealing From AbuseHealing TraumaSelf Destructive BehaviorEmotional RegulationSelf DestructivenessVerbalization
Book:Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders
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“...the tragedy of consumerism: one acquires more and more things without taking the time to ever see and know them, and thus one never truly enjoys them. One has without truly having. The consumer is right-there is pleasure to be had in good things, a sacred and almost unspeakable pleasure, but the consumer wrongly thinks that one finds this pleasure by having more and more possessions instead of possessing them more truly through grateful contemplation. And here we are, living in an economy that perpetuates this tragedy.”

ThinkingKnowsEnjoyPleasureEconomyTragedyGratefulSacredGood ThingsPossessionConsumersContemplationAcquireConsumerismPossessingOverconsumptionUnspeakable
Author:Brian D. McLaren
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“To forgive somebody is to say one way or another, "You have done something unspeakable, and by all rights I should call it quits between us. Both my pride and my principles demand no less. However, although I make no guarantees that I will be able to forget what you've done, and though we may both carry the scars for life, I refuse to let it stand between us. I still want you for my friend.”

WayWantShouldMayStillsDoneAbleForgetPrinciplesRightsPrideDemandForgivenessMy FriendsForgivingRefuseQuittingOne WayGuaranteesScarUnspeakableGuarantees That
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“The best pictures are always those one dreams of when one is smoking a pipe in bed, but which never get done. But still one ought to try, however incompetent one may feel before the unspeakable perfection and radiant splendour of nature.”

FeelsTryingMayStillsDoneDreamOughtBedPerfectionSmokingPipeRadiantIncompetentUnspeakableSplendourSmoking A PipeBest Picture
Book:Van Gogh on Art and Artists: Letters to Emile Bernard
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“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

InspirationalCharacterFightingPeaceLeadershipHurtCourageStrengthHonestyPoliticianYogaDignityInner PeaceFighterWellnessMartial ArtsInner StrengthPeace Of MindHappy LifePermissionHurt MeHurt FeelingsBeing StrongUnspeakablePeace And LoveStrength Of WillBeing HurtBeen HurtFighting OnPower And StrengthHuman StrengthHurt My FeelingsYoga PeacePower StrengthWill To FightStrong LifeI Was HurtShort StrengthBeing Strong In LifeHurt And PainMy Heart HurtsLife HurtsI've Been Hurt
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“Free will appears unfettered, deliberate; it is boundlessly free, wandering, the spirit. But fate is a necessity; unless we believe that world history is a dream-error, the unspeakable sorrows of mankind fantasies, and that we ourselves are but the toys of our fantasies. Fate is the boundless force of opposition against free will. Free will without fate is just as unthinkable as spirit without reality, good without evil. Only antithesis creates the quality.”

WorldBelieveDreamRealitySpiritEvilForceQualityFantasyFateMankindSorrowErrorsWanderOppositionFree WillToysWorld HistoryDeliberateBoundlessUnthinkableUnspeakableAntithesis
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“These are thy glorious works Parent of Good, Almighty, thine this universal Frame, Thus wondrous fair; thy self how wondrous then! Unspeakable, who sitst above these Heavens To us invisible or dimly seen In these thy lowest works, yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and Power Divine: Speak ye who best can tell, ye Sons of light, Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs And choral symphonies, Day without Night, Circle his Throne rejoicing, ye in Heav'n, On Earth join all ye Creatures to extoll Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.”

FirstsEndsSelfGodLightEarthLastsNightSongSpeakHeavenParentDivineSonCreaturesGoodnessAngelFairsUniversalCirclesInvisibleGloriousMidstRejoiceAlmightyThronesLowestSymphonyWondrousUnspeakable
Author:John Milton
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“If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings.... What I am condemning is that one power, with a president [George W. Bush] who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.”

IfsThinkingWorldHumansCountryStatesCareAmericaPresidentHuman BeingsUnitedUnited StatesCommittedDon't CareHolocaustUnited States Of AmericaForesightPlungeAtrocitiesUnspeakableCondemningPresident George W Bush
Author:Nelson Mandela
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“Not the least of the hardships to which the dying are subject is the visitation of their loved ones. The poor darlings, God bless them, may feel every impulse to condole and console, but their primary sensation is nonetheless one of embarrassment in the presence of the unspeakable and a guilty gratitude that it is not yet their fate.”

FeelsMayPoorFateSubjectsDyingGratitudeGuiltyPrimariesImpulseHardshipBlessSensationsLoved OnesDarlingEmbarrassmentGod BlessConsoleUnspeakableVisitation
Book:East Side Story: A Novel
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“Imagine that for hundreds of years your most formative traumas, your daily suffering and pain, the abuse you live through, the terror you live with, are unspeakable - not the basis of literature. You grow up with your father holding you down and covering your mouth so another man can make a horrible searing pain between your legs.... You learn how to leave your body and create someone else who takes over when you cannot stand it any more. You develop a self who is ingratiating and obsequious and imitative and aggressively passive and silent - you learn, in a word, femininity.”

MenYearsSelfBodyPainSufferingFatherLiteratureGrowsGrowing UpImagineMouthsAbuseBasesDown AndSilentTerrorLegsTraumaYour BodyHorribleImagine ThatPassiveFemininityAnother ManCoveringUnspeakableSuffering And Pain
Author:Catharine MacKinnon
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“Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any. Nothing is visible but the merest outline of dusky shapes. Standing within all is clear and defined; every ray of light reveals an army of unspeakable splendors.”

LightChristianChristianityClearImagineShapesGloryStandingWindowArmyDefinedVisibleRaysWithout YouOutlinesSplendorChristian FaithCathedralsUnspeakableRays Of Light
Author:John Ruskin
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“There is no point in trying to remember your dreams ... There is only the unspeakable joy of eavesdropping on your spirit, catching tiny glimpses of its independent life, resting for a moment in its wisdom, puzzling, laughing sometimes, over what it's up to, what it makes of you.”

TryingSometimesMomentsDreamRememberJoySpiritLaughingIndependentTinyYour DreamsGlimpseCatchingNo PointUnspeakablePuzzlingEavesdroppingNo Point In TryingIndependent Life
Author:Marsha Norman
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“To what or whom does Lizzie Harris direct the imperative title of her startling first book, Stop Wanting? To the reader, the narrator, to desire itself, or to lack? This is a work of complexly, ambiguously layered narratives and identities. The opening poem asserts I want to say what happened / but am suspicious of stories. These lines become an ars poetica for the whole of this painful and exceptional collection in which the unspeakable is stubbornly confronted by a searing eloquence. This is a commanding debut.”

WantFirstsDoeBookWholeStoriesDesireLinesHappenedIdentityReaderDirectPainfulOpeningNarrativeTitlesCollectionsExceptionalImperativesSuspiciousEloquenceUnspeakableDebutNarrators
Author:Lynn Emanuel
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“It is necessary to reaffirm our solid opposition to any direct offense against life, especially when innocent and defenseless, and the unborn child in its mother's womb is the quintessence of innocence. Let us remember the words of Vatican Council II: 'Therefore from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.'”

ChildrenMomentsCareRememberMotherCrimeDirectInnocentInnocenceAbortionOppositionConceptionOffenseCouncilWombUnbornGuardedUnspeakableDefenselessUnborn ChildQuintessenceInfanticide
Author:Pope Francis
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“...If peace were the goal of today's intellectuals, a failure of that magnitude -- and the evidence of unspeakable suffering on so large a scale -- would make them pause and check their statist premises. Instead, blind to everything but their hatred for capitalism, they are now asserting that 'poverty breeds wars' ... But the question is: What breeds poverty? If you look a the world of today and if you look back at history, you will see the answer: the degree of a country's freedom is the degree of its prosperity.”

IfsWorldLooksWarCountryTodaySufferingGoalAnswersPovertyDegreesEvidenceCapitalismHatredBlindProsperityScalesChecksPausesPremisesMagnitudeUnspeakable
Author:Ayn Rand
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“Robin [Williams] was a world treasure. As we mourn his tragic death, we must remember him for the great waves of laughter that he was able to illicit from us, how his humor and insights - though they came from a place of pain and uncertainty - connected us and reminded us of how flawed and fragile...how human we are. How we are capable of moments of inspired transcendence and others of unspeakable despair.”

WorldHumansMomentsWisdomRealityAblePainRememberCommunityLeadershipComedyHuman NatureHealthDespairCapableLaughterUnityInspiredIndividualityWaveInsightConnectedTreasureUncertaintyTragicFragileFlawedTranscendenceMournRobinsUnspeakable
Author:Glenn Close
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“It is unheard-of, uncivilized barbarism that any woman should still be forced to bear such monstrous torture. It should be remedied. It should be stopped. It is simply absurd that, with our modern science, painless childbirth does not exist as a matter of course.... I tremble with indignation when I think ofthe unspeakable egotism and blindness of men of science who permit such atrocities when they can be remedied.”

ThinkingMenShouldDoeStillsMatterCoursesModernBearsAbsurdTorturePermitBlindnessEgotismMonstrousChildbirthAtrocitiesBarbarismIndignationUnspeakableModern ScienceUnheardPainlessUncivilized
Author:Isadora Duncan
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“The factory meat industry has polluted thousands of miles of America's rivers, killed billions of fish, pushed tens of thousands of family farmers off their land, sickened and killed thousands of U.S. citizens, and treated millions of farm animals with unspeakable and unnecessary cruelty.”

AmericaAnimalMillionsLandIndustryCitizensRiversFishesBillionsMilesTreatedCrueltyMeatFarmsFarmersFactoriesUnnecessaryUnspeakableMeat Industry
Author:Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
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