Oppressors Quotes - Page 8

• Where is the man, who, if asked to become a slave, would not hurl back the offer indignantly in the teeth of the oppressor?

  Charles Lenox Remond

  Men, Teeth, Slave

  8 Copy quote

• A liberation movement that is nonviolent sets the oppressor free as well as the oppressed.

  Barbara Deming

  Strength, Movement, Liberation

  Barbara Deming (1984). “We Are All Part of One Another: A Barbara Deming Reader”

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.

  Cesar Chavez

  Peace, Hurt, Brutality

  9 Copy quote

• To be a Jew means always being with the oppressed and never the oppressors.

  Marek Edelman

  Mean, Jew, Oppressed

  8 Copy quote

• There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Giving Up, People, Black History

  "Three Ways of Meeting Oppression". Essay by Martin Luther King, Jr., taken from MLK's book "Stride Toward Freedom", 1958.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Liberals tend to be much more concerned about business and corporations as the oppressors. They look to government as the solution. On the Right it's the opposite. They see business as good, as what generates wealth in society, and they see government as the oppressor, which makes it hard for especially small businesspeople.

  Jonathan Haidt

  Opposites, Government, Corporations

  "Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt". "Tavis Smiley", www.pbs.org. May 7, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.

  Albert Camus

  Cynical, Political, Democracy

  11 Copy quote

• The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

  Steven Biko

  Historical, Mind, Weapons

  "White Racism and Black Consciousness" (paper presented at workshop sponsored by Abe Bailey Institute of Interracial Studies),Cape Town, South Africa, Jan. 1971

  464 Copy quote

  Show source

• Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in 'changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them.

  Paulo Freire

  Lying, Consciousness, Interest

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.53, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.

  James A. Baldwin

  Long, Doe, World

  11 Copy quote

• Justice remains the tool of a few powerful interests; legal interpretations will continue to be made to suit the convenience of the oppressor powers.

  Che Guevara

  Powerful, Justice, Tools

  "On Development". Speech delivered at the plenary session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, www.marxists.org. March 25, 1964.

  99 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Irishman frees himself from slavery when he realizes the truth that the capitalist system is the most foreign thing in Ireland. The Irish question is a social question. The whole age-long fight of the Irish people against their oppressors resolves itself in the last analysis into a fight for the mastery of the means of life, the sources of production, in Ireland. Who would own and control the land? The people, or the invaders; and if the invaders, which set of them - the most recent swarm of land thieves, or the sons of the thieves of a former generation?

  James Connolly

  Mean, Fighting, Son

  294 Copy quote

• Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.

  Wally Lamb

  Defeat, Used, Wells

  Wally Lamb (1998). “I Know This Much Is True”, p.897, Cambridge University Press

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors.

  Paulo Freire

  Strive, Liberation, Pedagogy Of The Oppressed

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.32, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Who Rebels? Who rises in arms? Rarely the slave, but almost always the oppressor turned slave.

  Emile M. Cioran

  Rebel, Arms, Slave

  "History and Utopia". Book by Emile M. Cioran, 1960.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Direct Action

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

  134 Copy quote

  Show source

• Muslims, scholars or not, are on the side of the oppressed and never on the side of the oppressors. Some scholars claim they don't do politics but if you listen to their statements in the Middle East or in other conferences, they support corrupt regimes and despots, such as as-Sissi.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Support, Middle East, Sides

  "Tariq Ramadan: My Absence Would Certainly Be The Most Powerful Speech I Have Ever Given At ISNA". The Islamic Monthly Interview, www.theislamicmonthly.com. August 14, 2014.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you teach the Negro that he has accomplished as much good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race. Such an effort would upset the program of the oppressor in Africa and America. Play up before the Negro, then, his crimes and shortcomings. Let him learn to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton. Lead the Negro to detest the man of African blood--to hate himself.

  Carter G. Woodson

  Hate, Latin, Men

  Carter G. Woodson (2006). “The Mis-Education of the Negro”, p.192, Book Tree

  118 Copy quote

  Show source

• Power in the hands of the reformer is no less potentially corrupting than in the hands of the oppressor.

  Derrick Bell

  Hands, Reformers

  Derrick Bell (2010). “Ethical Ambition”, p.60, A&C Black

  33 Copy quote

  Show source

• many people must be ruled to thrive. In their selfishness and greed, they see free people as their oppressors. They wish to have a leader who will cut the taller plants so the sun will reach them. They think no plant should be allowed to grow taller than the shortest, and in that way give light to all. They would rather be provided a guiding light, regardless of the fuel, than light a candle themselves.

  Terry Goodkind

  Cutting, Thinking, Light

  Terry Goodkind (2015). “Wizard's First Rule”, p.134, Head of Zeus

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Even revolution, which transforms a concrete situation of oppression by establishing the process of liberation, must confront this phenomenon. Many of the oppressed who directly or indirectly participate in revolution intend - conditioned by the myths of the old order - to make it their private revolution. The shadow of their former oppressor is still cast over them.

  Paulo Freire

  Order, Shadow, Revolution

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.46, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.

  Paulo Freire

  Class, Privilege, Monopoly

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.42, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

  49 Copy quote

  Show source

• The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with his interpretation of the crimes of the strong.

  Carter G. Woodson

  Strong, Crime, Weak

  "The Mis-Education of the Negro". Book by Carter G. Woodson, 1933.

  72 Copy quote

  Show source

• I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

  Elie Wiesel

  Peace, Bystanders, History

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.170, Schocken

  284 Copy quote

  Show source

• All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

  George W. Bush

  Liberty, United States, Oppression

  Second Presidential Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 2005

  4 Copy quote

  Show source