Impunity Quotes

• When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us.

  Wole Soyinka

  Hard Work, Leader, Culture

  Source: saharareporters.com

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• Nothing predicts future behavior as much as past impunity.

  Jane Mayer

  Past, Behavior

  "Torture and the Truth" by Jane Mayer, www.newyorker.com. December 22 & 29, 2014.

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• Nothing's as dangerous as power with impunity.

  Isabel Allende

  Dangerous

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• The powerful feed ideology to the masses like fast food while they dine on that most rarefied delicacy: impunity.

  Naomi Klein

  Powerful, Nihilism, Delicacy

  "It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House" by Naomi Klein, www.theguardian.com. December 22, 2003.

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• The ultimate enemy of Democracy is not the drug dealer of the crooked politician or the crazed skinhead. The ultimate enemy is the New King that has become so powerful it can murder its own citizens with impunity.

  Gerry Spence

  Kings, Powerful, Drug

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• What is it about the government and its agents and employees that they can lie to us with impunity, but we risk being sent to jail if we lie to them?

  Andrew Napolitano

  Lying, Jail, Government

  "Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History". Book by Andrew Napolitano, www.foxnews.com. 2010.

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• But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter.

  George Washington

  Government, Law, Confusion

  George Washington (1851). “The life of General Washington: first president of the United States”, p.216

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• The hope of impunity is the greatest inducement to do wrong.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Hope

  "Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio (Pro Milone)". Oration by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Section XVI), 52 BC.

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• What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power, and the power to abuse.

  Isabel Allende

  Abuse, Abuse Of Power

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• Once the law is broken with impunity, each man regains the right to any means he deems proper or necessary in order to defend himself against the new tyrant, the one who can break the law.

  Allan Bloom

  Mean, Men, Order

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• In a well governed state, there are few punishments, not because there are many pardons, but because criminals are rare; it is when a state is in decay that the multitude of crimes is a gaurantee of impunity.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Punishment, Criminals, Decay

  Jean Jacques Rousseau (2015). “The Social Contract”, p.145, Jean Jacques Rousseau

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• Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism - real and exaggerated - has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human rights abuses.

  Naomi Klein

  Real, Blow, Rights

  "A deadly franchise" by Naomi Klein, www.theguardian.com. August 27, 2003.

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• It is the height of stupidity to claim that men who for a thousand years have had the power to berate us, to fleece us and to oppress us with impunity, will now agree, with good grace, to be our equals.

  Jean-Paul Marat

  Men, Years, Stupidity

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• Men frequently do good only to give themselves opportunity of doing ill with impunity.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Opportunity, Men, Giving

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• A culture of dialogue is breaking down and giving way to a culture of threats and impunity, you can see the strategy already ... and what you have is essentially the threat of imprisonment in order to control people better.

  Sophal Ear

  Order, People, Giving

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• No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity

  Thomas Jefferson

  Ignorance, Nigeria Independence, Nations

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.114, Modern Library

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• We often do shallow good in order to accomplish evil with impunity.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Order, Evil, Wickedness

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• In the name of justice there cannot be subjection and in the name of peace there cannot be impunity.

  Alvaro Uribe

  Peace, Names, Justice

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• The main challenge is what to do in the face of double standards. Those who should be rendered accountable under international criminal law, the Kissingers of this world, enjoy de facto impunity, while those who come from countries that have long been targets of hegemonic abuse are used as poster children of accountability.

  Richard A. Falk

  Country, Children, Law

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Impunity should be condemned in any corner of the world.

  Rigoberta Menchu

  World, Should, Corners

  Source: www.indians.org

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• Do you think you can be righteous and holy with impunity?

  Jean Racine

  Thinking, Holiness, Injustice

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• The world is a very unjust, unfair place and we have to live with that. Historically, there is impunity for most crimes.

  Isabel Allende

  World, Unjust, Crime

  Interview with Laura Flanders, www.counterpunch.org. June 06, 2003.

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• It may seem sometimes as if a culture of peace does not stand a chance against the culture of war, the culture of violence and the cultures of impunity and intolerance. Peace may indeed be a complex challenge, dependent on action in many fields and even a bit of luck from time to time. It may be a painfully slow process, and fragile and imperfect when it is achieved. But peace is in our hands. We can do it.

  Kofi Annan

  Time, Peace, War

  "Secretary-General Stresses Need for Culture of Peace". Kofi Annan's message for the occasion of the International Day of Peace (September 14), www.un.org. September 10, 1999.

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• We have a circle of corruption and impunity that is too strong.

  Josefina Vazquez Mota

  Strong, Circles, Corruption

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• In the Mexico we want, there is no room for corruption, for cover-ups, and least of all for impunity.

  Enrique Pena Nieto

  Cover Ups, Mexico, Want

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