"…we should acknowledge that the childhood adage, 'sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me,' is patently untrue. Words, and the meanings with which they are imbued, can achieve accuracy and relevance or they can transmit dangerous stereotypes and half-truths. They can empower or disempower, humanize or objectify, engender compassion or elicit malignant fear and hatred. Words can inspire us or deflate us. Comfort or wound us. They can bring us together or render us enemies. Put simply, our lives are profoundly shaped by the words we apply to ourselves and those that come to us from others…."

---White, W.; Toward a New Recovery Movement: Historical Reflections on Recovery, Treatment and Advocacy (2000)