From a Crow's Beak: Writing in Passing

You don't have to speak to be hated.
You can hold your tongue from all the nastiness you could possibly spew.
You could be so patient and so nice.
But they will walk all over you until your voice didn't matter before you had the chance to use it.

And whether your words are coated with sugar or laced with poison, they will fall upon the deaf ears of those who were unwilling to listen since the beginning.