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People Quotes by Howard Zinn

84 People quotes by Howard Zinn

All People quotes Howard Zinn’s page

People are urged to look beyond flags that hide the shame of killing. Zinn warns that history books often lean toward power, that words like democracy can mask violence, and that true change needs radical ideas. He also says education should mix reading with action, and that persistence beats the need for immediate success.

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When in all the nations of the world the rule of law is the darling of the leaders and the plague of…

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There is civil disobedience against the military machine, protest against police brutality directed especially at people of color.

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There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United…

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

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Terrorism and war have something in common. They both involve the killing of innocent people to achieve what the killers believe is…

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War is terrorism ... Terrorism is the willingness to kill large numbers of people for some presumably good cause. That's what terrorists…

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If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the…

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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…

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These people—the employed, the somewhat privileged—are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the…

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Behind the deceptive words designed to entice people into supporting violence -- words like democracy, freedom, self-defense, national security -- there is…

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The memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away, and for such people, with such memories, revolt is…

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I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be…

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The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people…

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One of the problems with dealing with anarchism is that there are many people whose ideas are anarchist, but who do not…

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[...] There is none that disperses its control more complexly through the voting system, the work situation, the church, the family, the…

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The only way things will happen is if people get over the notion that they must see immediate success. If they get…

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There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that…

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The problem of giving health care to everybody cannot be solved so long as we're spending huge sums of money for war.…

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To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of…

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Surely, if it is the right of the people to "alter or abolish," it is their right to criticize, even severely, policies…

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Where progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not…

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What most of us must be involved in--whether we teach or write, make films, write films, direct films, play music, act, whatever…

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I believe there are huge numbers of people in this country who would be willing to have radical changes in our economic…

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I would prefer to use a very inclusive definition of the working class. I'd like to include all of those people who…

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Democracy depends on people speaking out, and in times of great crisis, on people creating a commotion.

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When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.

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

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Being fired has some of the advantages of dying without its supreme disadvantages. People say extra-nice things about you, and you get…

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

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People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they…

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I always emphasize the historic role of people of color in organizing and protesting to achieve justice.

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The only hope lies in the fact that the American people - like people everywhere - are basically decent people with common…

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Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.

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Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people.

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Beyond the futility of armed force, and ultimately more important, is the fact that war in our time inevitably results in the…

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Every word you utter to another human being has an effect, but you don't know it. If people begin to understand that…

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I believe the American people have the capacity to create a new movement, which would change the direction of our nation from…

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People who have no respect for human life or for freedom or justice have taken over this beautiful country of ours. It…

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Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed…

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If you have an economic system in which there must be a lower class, there must be unemployed. There must be a…

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More by Howard Zinn

“A black man, Benjamin Banneker, who taught himself mathematics and astronomy, predicted accurately a solar eclipse, and was appointed to plan the new city…

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

“a good education is a synthesis of book learning and involvement in social action, because each enrich the other. The accumulation of knowledge, while…

The mountain of history books under which we all stand leans so heavily in the other direction-so tremblingly respectful of states and statesmen and…

Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that…

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence,…

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of…

Now I have been studying very closely what happens every day in the courts in Boston, Massachusetts. You would be astounded--maybe you wouldn't, maybe…

They were not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, they were absent in the Constitution and they were invisible in the new political democracy.…

“Sexual purity was to be the special virtue of a woman. It was assumed that men, as a matter of biological nature, would sin,…

“Middle-class Americans might be invited to join a new elite by attacks against the corruption of the established rich. The New Yorker Cadwallader Colden,…

If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will…

We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts…

Behind the deceptive words designed to entice people into supporting violence -- words like democracy, freedom, self-defense, national security -- there is the reality…

“George Washington had turned down the requests of blacks, seeking freedom, to fight in the Revolutionary army. So when the British military commander in…