Howard Zinn Quotes

Quotes about:

• To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

  Howard Zinn

  Hope, Kindness, Future

  201 Copy quote

• Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.

  Howard Zinn

  Inspirational, Death, Running

  210 Copy quote
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  We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.

  Howard Zinn

  Inspirational, Life, Change

  Howard Zinn (2010). “You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times”, p.208, Beacon Press

  156 Copy quote

• They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.

  Howard Zinn

  Gun, Winning, Poet

  79 Copy quote
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  But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.

  Howard Zinn

  People, Remember, Obedience

  Howard Zinn (2012). “Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches, 1963-2009”, p.299, Haymarket Books

  118 Copy quote

• Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.

  Howard Zinn

  Peace, War, History

  Howard Zinn (2011). “The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy”, p.410, Seven Stories Press

  74 Copy quote
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  But I suppose the most revolutionary act one can engage in is... to tell the truth.

  Howard Zinn

  Revolutionary, Telling The Truth, Truth Be Told

  Howard Zinn (1999). “Marx in Soho: A Play on History”, p.4, South End Press

  118 Copy quote

• If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, not as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one's country, one's fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles.

  Howard Zinn

  Loyalty, Country, Government

  Howard Zinn (1990). “Declarations of Independence: Cross-examining American Ideology”, Perennial

  101 Copy quote

• [...] There is none that disperses its control more complexly through the voting system, the work situation, the church, the family, the school, the mass media - none more successful in mollifying opposition with reforms, isolating people from one another, creating patriotic loyalty.

  Howard Zinn

  Loyalty, School, Patriotic

  Howard Zinn (2015). “A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present”, p.632, Routledge

  9 Copy quote

• Civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience democracy does not exist.

  Howard Zinn

  Democracy, Doe, Realms

  12 Copy quote

• Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.

  Howard Zinn

  Inspirational, Small Acts, People

  Howard Zinn (2010). “You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times”, p.208, Beacon Press

  77 Copy quote

• When I say history is a matter of life and death, I mean this: If you really don't know history, you are a victim of whatever the authorities tell you. You have no way of checking up on them. You have no way of deciding whether there is any truth in what they are saying.

  Howard Zinn

  Mean, Life And Death, Matter

  86 Copy quote

• If the gods had intended for people to vote, they would have given us candidates.

  Howard Zinn

  People, Vote, Given

  6 Copy quote

• The only way things will happen is if people get over the notion that they must see immediate success. If they get over that notion and persist, then they will see things happen before they even realize it.

  Howard Zinn

  People, Way, Realizing

  Howard Zinn, David Barsamian (1999). “The future of history: interviews with David Barsamian”, Common Courage Pr

  21 Copy quote

• Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act.

  Howard Zinn

  Fear, Self, Pessimism

  Howard Zinn (1994). “You can't be neutral on a moving train: a personal history of our times”, Beacon Press (MA)

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  There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

  Howard Zinn

  Peace, War, Patriotic

  Howard Zinn (1993). “Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian”, p.118, South End Press

  103 Copy quote

• I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished.

  Howard Zinn

  Powerful, Ideas, Roots

  95 Copy quote

• You can't be neutral on a moving train.

  Howard Zinn

  Moving, History, Justice

  Howard Zinn (1999). “Marx in Soho: A Play on History”, p.57, South End Press

  17 Copy quote

• We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism....

  Howard Zinn

  Country, Rights, Government

  "A People's History of the United States". Book by Howard Zinn, www.huffingtonpost.com. 1980.

  56 Copy quote

• When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.

  Howard Zinn

  Government, Speaks Out, Together We Can

  Howard Zinn (2013). “A Power Governments Cannot Suppress”, p.16, City Lights Books

  34 Copy quote

• The struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience.

  Howard Zinn

  Determination, Struggle, Sacrifice

  Howard Zinn (1993). “Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian”, p.27, South End Press

  16 Copy quote

• Sometimes the difference between two candidates is an important one in the immediate sense, and then I believe trying to get somebody into office, who is a little better, who is less dangerous, is understandable. But never forgetting that no matter who gets into office, the crucial question is not who is in office, but what kind of social movement do you have. Because if you have a powerful social movement, it doesn't matter who is in office.

  Howard Zinn

  Powerful, Believe, Two

  "Rebels Against Tyranny". Interview with Ziga Vodovnik, www.counterpunch.org. May 12, 2008.

  24 Copy quote
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  Education can, and should be, dangerous.

  Howard Zinn

  Should, Dangerous

  Howard Zinn (2011). “The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy”, p.563, Seven Stories Press

  82 Copy quote

• If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

  Howard Zinn

  Tyrants, Ideas, Soldier

  Howard Zinn, Dean Birkenkamp, Wanda Rhudy (2016). “Uncommon Sense: From the Writings of Howard Zinn”, p.17, Routledge

  58 Copy quote

• Democracy depends on citizens being informed, and since our media, especially television (which is the most important source of news for most Americans) reports mostly what the people in power do, and repeats what the people in power say, the public is badly informed, and it means we cannot really say we have a functioning democracy.

  Howard Zinn

  Mean, Media, People

  Interview with Stefan Sirucek, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 30, 2010.

  96 Copy quote

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