---
title: "2 Believe Words Quotes By Adrienne Rich"
description: "2 Believe Words quotes by Adrienne Rich. Plus more from Adrienne Rich and more Believe Words sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/adrienne-rich-803_believe_i-believe-that-words-can-help-us-move-or_290742.png"
---

> [I believe that words can help us move or keep us paralyzed, and that our choices of language and verbal tone have something - a great deal - to do with how we live our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-believe-that-words-can-help-us-move-or-keep-us-paralyzed-and-that/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/adrienne-rich-803_believe_i-believe-that-words-can-help-us-move-or_290742.png)

> [I believe that words can help us move or keep us paralysed, and that our choices of language and verbal tone have something - a great deal - to do with how we live our lives and whom we end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-believe-that-words-can-help-us-move-or-keep-us-paralysed-and-that/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/adrienne-rich-803_belief_i-believe-that-words-can-help-us-move-or_608552.jpg)

## More by Adrienne Rich

> [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you...it means that you do not treat your body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/responsibility-to-yourself-means-refusing-to-let-others-do-your/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [What I search for continuously in my art is adequate language, language I hope can stand beyond any particular occasion. What I'm finding is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/what-i-search-for-continuously-in-my-art-is-adequate-language/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [“Well, she's long about her coming, who must be more merciless to herself than history. Her mind full to the wind, I see her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/well-she-s-long-about-her-coming-who-must-be-more-merciless-to/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [I think my work comes out of both an intense desire for connection and what it means to feel isolated. There's always going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-my-work-comes-out-of-both-an-intense-desire-for-connection/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrotea letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/popular-culture-entered-my-life-as-shirley-temple-who-was-exactly-my/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-social-compact-built-on-fantasy/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/it-s-as-if-in-the-mother-s-eyes-her-smile-her-stroking-touch-the/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [The women's movement appeared at a very crucial moment in my life. There was a whole political movement asking such questions and others I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-women-s-movement-appeared-at-a-very-crucial-moment-in-my-life/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-word-revolution-itself-has-become-not-only-a-dead-relic-of/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [The decision to feed the world is the real decision. No revolution has chosen it. For that choice requires that women shall be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-decision-to-feed-the-world-is-the-real-decision-no-revolution-has/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [The necessity of poetry has to be stated over and over, but only to those who have reason to fear its power, or those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-necessity-of-poetry-has-to-be-stated-over-and-over-but-only-to/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [I think many poets, including myself, write both for the voice and for the page. I certainly write for the person alone in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-many-poets-including-myself-write-both-for-the-voice-and-for/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [If I cling to circumstances I could feel not responsible. Only she who says she did not choose, is the loser in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/if-i-cling-to-circumstances-i-could-feel-not-responsible-only-she-who/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

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