Deafness

"Father Mulcahy: Dear Lord I know there must be a reason for this. But what is it? I answered the call to do your work. I've devoted my life to it, and now how am I supposed to do it? Lord, what good am I now? What good is a deaf priest? I've prayed to you to help me and every day I get worse. Are you deaf too?"

"Pozzo: [suddenly furious] Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? [calmer] They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."

"Like the majority of deaf people, I don't like blind people much."

"When the imagination sleeps, words are emptied of their meaning: a deaf population absent-mindedly registers the condemnation of a man. … there is no other solution but to speak out and show the obscenity hidden under the verbal cloak."

"I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't know me and I didn't know anybody. I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddamn stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life. Everybody'd think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they'd leave me alone."

"Il ne voit que la nuit, n'entend que le silence."

"Now, as a cadet, your training barely covered the importance of how to interact with America's one million Deaf citizens."

"American Sign Language is naturally big and expressive. But some officers mistake it as wild or aggressive."

"Many Deaf people can't read or write English fluently because of 'language deprivation."

"Deaf people reading lips is an impossibility. There's no way. It's something hearing people dreamt up. It's too easily misunderstood."

"None so deaf as those that will not hear."

"Who is so deaf as he that will not hear?"

"God: Moses, this is the Lord, thy God, commanding you to obey my law. Do you hear me? Moses: Yes, I hear you, I hear you...a deaf man could hear you! God: What?! Moses: Nothing, forget about it, Oh Lord! Why have you chosen me? What would you have me do for you?"

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."

"The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus — the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keeps us in the intellectual company of man."

"He cannot hear the skylark sing, The music of the wild bee’s wing; The murmur of the plaining bough ; A gentle whisper fairy low; The noise of falling waters near— All these have left his mournful ear."

"After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.""

"Cha vel fer erbee cha bouyr, as eshyn nagh jean clashtyn."

"In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire."

"Pleasure and revenge Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice Of any true decision."

"O, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!"

"They never would hear, But turn the deaf ear, As a matter they had no concern in."

"Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow What you need is someone strong to guide you"

"It's important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world. My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything. If one can only see things according to one's own belief system, one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind."