--- title: "8 Critical Quotes By Paulo Freire" description: "8 Critical quotes by Paulo Freire. Plus more from Paulo Freire and more Critical sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1d/paulo-freire-1551_accepting_the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-de_709798.jpg" --- > [The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-deposits-entrusted-to-them-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1d/paulo-freire-1551_accepting_the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-de_709798.jpg) > [It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppressed-participate-in-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5e/paulo-freire-1551_awareness_it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppr_711554.jpg) > [How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation? Only as they discover themselves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthentic-beings-participate-in/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/562/paulo-freire-1551_contribution_how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthe_946374.jpg) > [... teaching cannot be a process of transference of knowledge from the one teaching to the learner. This is the mechanical transference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transference-of-knowledge-from-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/460/paulo-freire-1551_comprehending_teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transfer_1172768.jpg) > [Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-presupposes-action-must-be/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc9/paulo-freire-1551_accordance_critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-p_1829621.jpg) > [Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality. The former attempts to maintain the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-and-inhibits-creative-power/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/paulo-freire-1551_banking_whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-a_2137882.jpg) > [It's no sin to make a critical study of Brazil's reality. A small percentage own land. Most people don't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of-brazil-s-reality-a-small/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/paulo-freire-1551_brazil_it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of_2550116.jpg) > [Critical reflection on practice is a requirement of the relationship between theory and practice. Otherwise theory becomes simply "blah, blah, blah, "…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-requirement-of-the-relationship/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/paulo-freire-1551_activism_critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-req_3174953.jpg) ## Other authors on Critical ## More by Paulo Freire > [The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-teacher-is-of-course-an-artist-but-being-an-artist-does-not-mean/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“if i am not in the world simply to adapt to it, but rather transform it, and if it is not possible to change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-am-not-in-the-world-simply-to-adapt-to-it-but-rather-transform/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [The earliest language was body language and, since this language is the language of questions, if we limit the questions, and if we only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-earliest-language-was-body-language-and-since-this-language-is/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [The behavior and reactions of the oppressed, which lead the oppressor to practice cultural invasion, should evoke from the revolutionary a different theory of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-behavior-and-reactions-of-the-oppressed-which-lead-the-oppressor/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“The fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-fact-that-certain-members-of-the-oppressor-class-join-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“When a word is deprived of its dimension of action,reflection automatically suffers as well and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism,into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/when-a-word-is-deprived-of-its-dimension-of-action-reflection/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“If I do not love the world, if I do not love life, if I do not love people, I cannot enter into dialogue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-do-not-love-the-world-if-i-do-not-love-life-if-i-do-not-love/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [ \[Humans'\] capacity to intervene, to compare, to judge, to decide, to choose, to desist makes them capable of acts of greatness, of dignity, and,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/humans-capacity-to-intervene-to-compare-to-judge-to-decide-to-choose/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [If I am a pure product of genetic, cultural, or class determination, I have no responsibility for my action in the world and, therefore,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-am-a-pure-product-of-genetic-cultural-or-class-determination-i/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“To begin always anew, to make, to reconstruct, and to not spoil, to refuse to bureaucratize the mind, to understand and to live life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/to-begin-always-anew-to-make-to-reconstruct-and-to-not-spoil-to/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“The man or woman who proclaims devotion to the cause of liberation yet is unable to enter into communion with the people, whom he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-man-or-woman-who-proclaims-devotion-to-the-cause-of-liberation/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/one-cannot-expect-positive-results-from-an-educational-or-political/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/any-situation-in-which-some-men-prevent-others-from-engaging-in-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Educators need to know what happens in the world of the children with whom they work. They need to know the universe of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/educators-need-to-know-what-happens-in-the-world-of-the-children-with/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical/paulo-freire/#itemlist", "name": "8 Critical Quotes By Paulo Freire", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role impressed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-deposits-entrusted-to-them-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1d/paulo-freire-1551_accepting_the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-de_709798.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1d/paulo-freire-1551_accepting_the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-de_709798.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1d/paulo-freire-1551_accepting_the-more-students-work-at-storing-the-de_709798.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical…” — Paulo Freire", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects of the transformation.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppressed-participate-in-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5e/paulo-freire-1551_awareness_it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppr_711554.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5e/paulo-freire-1551_awareness_it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppr_711554.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5e/paulo-freire-1551_awareness_it-is-absolutely-essential-that-the-oppr_711554.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly…” — Paulo Freire", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation? Only as they discover themselves to be 'hosts' of the oppressor can they contribute to the midwifery of their liberating pedagogy. As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to be like and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible. The pedagogy of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discovery that both they and their oppressors are manifestations of dehumanization.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthentic-beings-participate-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/562/paulo-freire-1551_contribution_how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthe_946374.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/562/paulo-freire-1551_contribution_how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthe_946374.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/562/paulo-freire-1551_contribution_how-can-the-oppressed-as-divided-unauthe_946374.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their…” — Paulo Freire", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... teaching cannot be a process of transference of knowledge from the one teaching to the learner. This is the mechanical transference from which results machinelike memorization, which I have already criticized. Critical study correlates with teaching that is equally critical, which necessarily demands a critical way of comprehending and of realizing the reading of the word and that of the world, the reading of text and of context.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transference-of-knowledge-from-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/460/paulo-freire-1551_comprehending_teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transfer_1172768.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/460/paulo-freire-1551_comprehending_teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transfer_1172768.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/460/paulo-freire-1551_comprehending_teaching-cannot-be-a-process-of-transfer_1172768.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“... teaching cannot be a process of transference of knowledge from the one teaching to the learner. 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The content of that dialogue can and should vary in accordance with historical conditions and the level at which the oppressed perceive reality.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-presupposes-action-must-be/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc9/paulo-freire-1551_accordance_critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-p_1829621.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc9/paulo-freire-1551_accordance_critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-p_1829621.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc9/paulo-freire-1551_accordance_critical-and-liberating-dialogue-which-p_1829621.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at…” — Paulo Freire", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality. The former attempts to maintain the submersion of consciousness; the latter strives for the emergence of consciousness and critical intervention in reality.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-and-inhibits-creative-power/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/paulo-freire-1551_banking_whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-a_2137882.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/paulo-freire-1551_banking_whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-a_2137882.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/paulo-freire-1551_banking_whereas-banking-education-anesthetizes-a_2137882.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a…” — Paulo Freire", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's no sin to make a critical study of Brazil's reality. A small percentage own land. Most people don't.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of-brazil-s-reality-a-small/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/paulo-freire-1551_brazil_it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of_2550116.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/paulo-freire-1551_brazil_it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of_2550116.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/paulo-freire-1551_brazil_it-s-no-sin-to-make-a-critical-study-of_2550116.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's no sin to make a critical study of Brazil's reality. A small percentage own land. 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Otherwise theory becomes simply \"blah, blah, blah, \" and practice, pure activism.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paulo Freire" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-requirement-of-the-relationship/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/paulo-freire-1551_activism_critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-req_3174953.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/paulo-freire-1551_activism_critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-req_3174953.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/paulo-freire-1551_activism_critical-reflection-on-practice-is-a-req_3174953.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Critical reflection on practice is a requirement of the relationship between theory and practice. 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