--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: 'Banished men should never speak their…" description: "\"“ 'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it comes bitter from their mouth. And this language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/799/ursula-k-le-guin-138_exile_banished-men-should-never-speak-their-na_1506254.jpg" --- # 'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it… ![“'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it comes bitter from their mouth. And this language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off one's teeth like sugar-syrup.'” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/799/ursula-k-le-guin-138_exile_banished-men-should-never-speak-their-na_1506254.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/799/ursula-k-le-guin-138_exile_banished-men-should-never-speak-their-na_1506254.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/799/ursula-k-le-guin-138_exile_banished-men-should-never-speak-their-na_1506254.jpg) > ““ 'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it comes bitter from their mouth. And this language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off one's teeth like sugar-syrup.' ”” [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Language can be weaponized, turning native speech into a betrayal of identity and a tool for oppression. **In simple terms:** Native language can betray identity and become oppression. Key Takeaway Guard linguistic heritage and resist forced assimilation. Themes identity oppression language power culture Mood defiant reflective Type philosophical political When to use this quote - political exile - cultural assimilation - education reform - activist writing Key Concepts colonialism linguistic domination cultural erasure Questions to Reflect On - How does language shape personal and collective identity? - What strategies protect endangered languages? A Different Perspective Even when suppressed, language can persist and inspire resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Banished Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/banished-men-5533579/) [Bitter Mouth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bitter-mouth-2024837/) [Comes Bitter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comes-bitter-5533580/) [Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Languages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/languages/) [Native Tongue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-tongue-860975/) [Traitor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traitor/) ## Related quotes > [Who hath bitter in his mouth, spits not all sweet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/who-hath-bitter-in-his-mouth-spits-not-all-sweet/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [Good medicine is bitter to the mouth, but has an effect on the disease. Faithful words hurt one's ears, but have value for one's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takeda-nobushige/good-medicine-is-bitter-to-the-mouth-but-has-an-effect-on-the-disease/) [Takeda Nobushige](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takeda-nobushige/) > [The truth only tastes bitter in the mouth of those eating the wrong sweets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-mark/the-truth-only-tastes-bitter-in-the-mouth-of-those-eating-the-wrong/) [Terry Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-mark/) > [“A native tongue, in my opinion, isn't the language spoken where you were born or the first language you learned; it's a language that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adi-alsaid/a-native-tongue-in-my-opinion-isn-t-the-language-spoken-where-you/) [Adi Alsaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adi-alsaid/) > [“We, Brandy and Alfa and me, we've been speaking English as a second language so long that we've forgotten it as our first. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/we-brandy-and-alfa-and-me-we-ve-been-speaking-english-as-a-second/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“My heart is a place with no native tongue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/logan-february/my-heart-is-a-place-with-no-native-tongue/) [Logan February](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/logan-february/) > [Technology is my native tongue. I'm online six hours a day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-rheingold/technology-is-my-native-tongue-i-m-online-six-hours-a-day/) [Howard Rheingold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-rheingold/) > [“We now live in the Esperantists’ dreamworld, but the universal language of natural science is English, a language that is the native tongue of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-d-gordin/we-now-live-in-the-esperantists-dreamworld-but-the-universal-language/) [Michael D. 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Language?" Grim spoke each word separately, and strung each syllable out. Nick hated it when he did that. "Oh,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/is-english-not-your-native-language-grim-spoke-each-word-separately/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [Unlike Conrad or Nabokov, I didn't have circumstances which would have coerced me out of my native tongue altogether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald/unlike-conrad-or-nabokov-i-didn-t-have-circumstances-which-would-have/) [W. G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald/) > [Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him. At…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/czeslaw-milosz/every-poet-depends-upon-generations-who-wrote-in-his-native-tongue-he/) [Czeslaw Milosz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/czeslaw-milosz/) > [American Sign Language is my native tongue. That's the first thing that I learned to communicate with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-raci/american-sign-language-is-my-native-tongue-that-s-the-first-thing/) [Paul Raci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-raci/) ## More by Ursula K. Le Guin > [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## More Exile quotes > [Were you indeed not blinded by the Curse Of Self-exile, that still grows worse and worse, Yourselves would know that, though you see him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farid-al-din-attar/were-you-indeed-not-blinded-by-the-curse-of-self-exile-that-still/) [Farid al-Din Attar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farid-al-din-attar/) > [What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart, it is with me wherever I go. To imprison me is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-taymiyyah/what-can-my-enemies-do-to-me-my-paradise-is-in-my-heart-it-is-with-me/) [Ibn Taymiyyah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-taymiyyah/) > [To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/to-live-is-to-hurt-others-and-through-others-to-hurt-oneself-cruel/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I had severed relations with the Romanian exiles who had become politically conservative and even extremely right wing; I was giving chess lessons to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dumitru-tepeneag/i-had-severed-relations-with-the-romanian-exiles-who-had-become/) [Dumitru Tepeneag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dumitru-tepeneag/) > [They came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/they-came-to-know-the-incorrigible-sorrow-of-all-prisoners-and-exiles/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Independence didn't have to be exile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-alvarez/independence-didn-t-have-to-be-exile/) [Julia Alvarez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-alvarez/) > [In our culture of constant access and nonstop media, nothing feels more like a curse from God than time in the wilderness. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-martin/in-our-culture-of-constant-access-and-nonstop-media-nothing-feels/) [Jonathan Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-martin/) > [“The growth of his power and fame was matched, in my imagination, by the degree of the punishment I would have liked to inflict…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/the-growth-of-his-power-and-fame-was-matched-in-my-imagination-by-the/) [Nabokov i Tyrants Destroyed i](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/) > [I turned what was a wonderful case of self-reliance into a case of self-exile. Which is not uncommon, I think, in people who grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-turned-what-was-a-wonderful-case-of-self-reliance-into-a-case-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [Humor is widely used by Indians to deal with life. Indian gatherings are marked by laughter and jokes, many directed at the horrors of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-gunn-allen/humor-is-widely-used-by-indians-to-deal-with-life-indian-gatherings/) [Paula Gunn Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-gunn-allen/) > [The Gnostics believed that exile was the essential condition of man. Do you agree? I do. The artist and the addict both wrestle with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/the-gnostics-believed-that-exile-was-the-essential-condition-of-man/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The perpetuation of slavery, the exile and extermination of American Indians, and the passage of Jim Crow laws weren't carried out at the bidding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/the-perpetuation-of-slavery-the-exile-and-extermination-of-american/) [P. J. 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We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/we-live-in-an-era-where-masses-of-people-come-and-go-across-a-hostile/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) [Browse all 512 Exile quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“ 'Banished men should never speak their native tongue; it comes bitter from their mouth. And this language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off one's teeth like sugar-syrup.' ”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ursula K. 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