Time & Perspective Quote by Marge Piercy

Piercy’s line has the plainspoken snap of something learned the hard way: being heard isn’t a trophy you earn by talking louder, it’s a relationship you build by taking other people seriously first. The phrasing is almost transactional - “put in time” makes listening feel like labor, not a vibe. That’s the point. Listening is framed as a practice with costs (attention, humility, patience) and therefore with value. If you want the social privilege of being taken seriously, you owe a prior investment in the same currency.

The subtext cuts against a culture that treats voice as entitlement. In workplaces, classrooms, activist spaces, even families, “being listened to” often gets coded as charisma, rank, or moral urgency. Piercy quietly flips the hierarchy: credibility isn’t only performed; it’s granted by others, and people grant it most readily to those who have already demonstrated respect. The line also contains a warning to would-be persuaders. If you’re not listening, you’re not gathering the information that makes speech land: what people fear, what they need, what language they trust, what histories they’re carrying into the room.

As a feminist writer who’s spent decades circling power and reciprocity, Piercy is also tugging at the politics of attention. Listening is how you notice who’s routinely ignored, who gets interrupted, who has to translate themselves to be legible. The intent isn’t gentle etiquette; it’s a discipline of solidarity. Want the room to make space for you? Learn how to make space first.