Silence increases the power of an oppressor. My job as a parent is to recognize oppression. I want my children to know whenever something is not right.

Not only are animals unable to avail themselves of language to assert their own rights, but many fewer humans have a clear sense of kinship with animals than have a clear sense of kinship with other humans. Among beings with subjective states of awareness, animals are the untouchable caste, those whom human others would rather not acknowledge, let alone render assistance.

In every age, no matter how cruel the oppression carried on by those in power, there have been those who struggled for a different world. I believe this is the genius of humankind, the thing that makes us half divine: the fact that some human beings can envision a world that has never existed.

There is no sound more annoying than the chatter of a child, and none more sad than the silence they leave when they are gone.

Never underestimate internalized racism. People can be oppressed, yet continue to express their oppression in their own choices.

A story is told as much by silence as by speech.