“Do we want words to be powerful or powerless? We can’t have it both ways. If we want them to be powerful, we have to act and speak accordingly, handling our words with the fastidious faith that they can do immeasurable good or irreparable harm. But if we want to say whatever we want – if we want to loose whatever words fly into our minds – then we render words powerless, ineffectual, and meaningless, like the playground bromide of “sticks and stones.”
