Finally, Gide recasts repetition as a duty: if silence allows harm to continue, then speaking again becomes a form of care. This is especially visible in civic life, where activists and witnesses repeat testimony until institutions respond. Frederick Douglass’s speeches, revisited across decades, show how moral clarity often must be reiterated because power benefits from delay.
In the end, the quote is less pessimistic than it sounds. It assumes words can still matter—provided someone persists long enough to meet the moment when listening finally begins. [...]
