--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have not been scuffling in this waste…" description: "\"We have not been scuffling in this waste - howling wilderness for the right to be stupid. All this waste.\" — Toni Cade Bambara" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bce/toni-cade-bambara-14357_nature_we-have-not-been-scuffling-in-this-waste_1694580.jpg" --- # We have not been scuffling in this waste - howling… ![“We have not been scuffling in this waste - howling wilderness for the right to be stupid. All this waste.” quote by Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bce/toni-cade-bambara-14357_nature_we-have-not-been-scuffling-in-this-waste_1694580.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bce/toni-cade-bambara-14357_nature_we-have-not-been-scuffling-in-this-waste_1694580.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bce/toni-cade-bambara-14357_nature_we-have-not-been-scuffling-in-this-waste_1694580.jpg) > “We have not been scuffling in this waste - howling wilderness for the right to be stupid. All this waste.” [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Societal pressure forces conformity, but true wisdom lies in embracing foolishness. **In simple terms:** Being stupid can be a form of freedom. Key Takeaway Accept the absurd to resist oppression. Themes conformity wisdom freedom absurdity Mood defiant thought‑provoking Type essay social commentary When to use this quote - political activism - artistic expression - personal growth - education Key Concepts social critique existentialism rebellion Questions to Reflect On - How can playful foolishness challenge norms? - What risks arise from rejecting seriousness? A Different Perspective Embracing stupidity may be misinterpreted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Stupidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stupidity/) [Waste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste/) [Wildness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wildness/) ## Related quotes > [We have not been scuffling in this waste-howling wildness for the right to be stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/we-have-not-been-scuffling-in-this-waste-howling-wildness-for-the/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-murie/wilderness-itself-is-the-basis-of-all-our-civilization-i-wonder-if-we/) Margaret Murie > [“Is it stupid to waste time on stuff like that in a world like this? When everything might fall apart any minute?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-marion/is-it-stupid-to-waste-time-on-stuff-like-that-in-a-world-like-this/) [Isaac Marion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-marion/) > [“they used that creative faculty to dismantle the world. To make living things into dead things. And for what? So that they might live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/they-used-that-creative-faculty-to-dismantle-the-world-to-make-living/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [I think the wall is stupid; it's a waste of the taxpayer's money. We need the money for job growth, infrastructure, 100 other things...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsten-gillibrand/i-think-the-wall-is-stupid-it-s-a-waste-of-the-taxpayer-s-money-we/) [Kirsten Gillibrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsten-gillibrand/) > [“I no longer follow the voices of the sane. I follow the ill because they see farther, feel much more and change what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/i-no-longer-follow-the-voices-of-the-sane-i-follow-the-ill-because/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [There are few places in England where you can get so much wildness and desolation of sea and sandhills, wood, green marsh and grey…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-hudson/there-are-few-places-in-england-where-you-can-get-so-much-wildness/) [William Henry Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-henry-hudson/) > [“The more I read, the more I felt connected across time to other lives and deeper sympathies. I felt less isolated. 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It is in the wildness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-mcginley/the-saints-differ-from-us-in-their-exuberance-the-excess-of-our-human/) [Phyllis McGinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-mcginley/) > [“In the United States law, federally designated wilderness is famously defined as 'an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-marris/in-the-united-states-law-federally-designated-wilderness-is-famously/) [Emma Marris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-marris/) ## More by Toni Cade Bambara > [... in a capitalist society a man is expected to be an aggressive, uncompromising, factual, lusty, intelligent provider of goods,and the woman, a retiring,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/in-a-capitalist-society-a-man-is-expected-to-be-an-aggressive/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [Old folks are the nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/old-folks-are-the-nation/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [And what is religion, you might ask. It's a technology of living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/and-what-is-religion-you-might-ask-it-s-a-technology-of-living/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [My responsibility to myself, my neighbors, my family and the human family is to try to tell the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/my-responsibility-to-myself-my-neighbors-my-family-and-the-human/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [An artist represents an oppressed people and makes revolution irresistible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/an-artist-represents-an-oppressed-people-and-makes-revolution/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [Writing is one of the ways I participate in transformation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/writing-is-one-of-the-ways-i-participate-in-transformation/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [Medication without explanation is obscene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/medication-without-explanation-is-obscene/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [The dream is real, my friends. The failure to realize it is the only unreality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/the-dream-is-real-my-friends-the-failure-to-realize-it-is-the-only/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [I tend to agree that celibacy for a time is worth considering, for sex is dirty if all it means is winning a man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/i-tend-to-agree-that-celibacy-for-a-time-is-worth-considering-for-sex/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [“I am one beautiful and powerful son of a bitch,' he told himself. 'Smart as a whip, respected, prosperous, beloved and valuable. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/i-am-one-beautiful-and-powerful-son-of-a-bitch-he-told-himself-smart/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [The job of the writer is to make revolution irresistible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/the-job-of-the-writer-is-to-make-revolution-irresistible/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [There are times ... when any visitor - in person, by phone, by mail - is an intruder, a burglar, a space hogger, an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/there-are-times-when-any-visitor-in-person-by-phone-by-mail-is-an/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [“As a culture worker who belongs to an oppressed people my job is to make revolution irresistible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/as-a-culture-worker-who-belongs-to-an-oppressed-people-my-job-is-to/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [TAKE HEART TO FLAT OUT DECIDE TO BE WELL AND STRIDE INTO THE FUTURE, SANE AND WHOLE](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/take-heart-to-flat-out-decide-to-be-well-and-stride-into-the-future/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) > [It's a dismally lonely business, writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-cade-bambara/it-s-a-dismally-lonely-business-writing/) [Toni Cade Bambara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) [Explore all 47 Toni Cade Bambara quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-cade-bambara/) ## More Nature quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/borrow-trouble-for-yourself-if-that-s-your-nature-but-don-t-lend-it/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. And they always had to put themselves at the center of everything. That was their greatest conceit. The earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/men-mistook-measurement-for-understanding-and-they-always-had-to-put/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [“She was, he knew- and had known very early, he supposed- one of those rare and always lovely humans whose moral nature was so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-williams/she-was-he-knew-and-had-known-very-early-he-supposed-one-of-those/) [John Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-williams/) > [“When the water covers the earth the sun will vanish the darkess and the cold will come.When the last dragon and the last Elf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvana-de-mari/when-the-water-covers-the-earth-the-sun-will-vanish-the-darkess-and/) [Silvana de Mari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvana-de-mari/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [“It is not the force of the wind, but the depth of the roots.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-is-not-the-force-of-the-wind-but-the-depth-of-the-roots/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. 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