Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people. — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If what your country is doing seems to you practically and morally wrong, is dissent the highest form of patriotism? — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
In a two-party system, if both parties ignore public opinion, there is no place voters can turn. — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The establishment, whatever rewards it gives us, will also, if necessary to maintain it's control, kill us — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If you join a fight for social justice you may win or lose, but just by being part of the struggle, you… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
These people—the employed, the somewhat privileged—are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
[W]e're taught that if one person kills another person, that is murder; but if a government kills a hundred thousand persons, that… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Are terrorists going to be deterred - are terrorists going to be scared if we react violently? No. They love it. That's… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The only way things will happen is if people get over the notion that they must see immediate success. If they get… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I am not an absolute pacifist, because I can't rule out the possibility that under some, carefully defined circumstances, some degree of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The white population could not possibly be unaffected by those events - some whites more stubborn in their defense of segregation, but… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
When I say history is a matter of life and death, I mean this: If you really don't know history, you are… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Sometimes the difference between two candidates is an important one in the immediate sense, and then I believe trying to get somebody… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, not as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
History is instructive. And what it suggests to people is that even if they do little things, if they walk on the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Each situation has to be evaluated separately, for all are different. In general, I believe in non-violent direct action, which involve organizing… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If democracy were to be given any meaning, if it were to go beyond the limits of capitalism and nationalism, this would… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Scholars, who pride themselves on speaking their minds, often engage in a form of self-censorship which is called "realism." To be "realistic"… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Majorities can be wrong, majorities can overrule rights of minorities. If majorities ruled, we could still have slavery. 80% of the population… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If you work through the existing structures you are going to be corrupted. By working through political system that poisons the atmosphere,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
It had long been true, and prisoners knew this better than anyone, that the poorer you were the more likely you were… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If we have learned anything in the past ten years, it is that these lovely things about America were never lovely. We… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I would prefer to use a very inclusive definition of the working class. I'd like to include all of those people who… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If we trace origins of anarchism in the United States, then probably Henry David Thoreau is the closest you can come to… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Where progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Should we not begin to redefine patriotism? We need to expand it beyond that narrow nationalism which has caused so much death… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If you have an economic system in which there must be a lower class, there must be unemployed. There must be a… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Every word you utter to another human being has an effect, but you don't know it. If people begin to understand that… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“A black man, Benjamin Banneker, who taught himself mathematics and astronomy, predicted accurately a solar eclipse, and was appointed to plan the new city… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. — Howard Zinn Copy Share
“a good education is a synthesis of book learning and involvement in social action, because each enrich the other. The accumulation of knowledge, while… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
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… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
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… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
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,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
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… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
They were not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, they were absent in the Constitution and they were invisible in the new political democracy.… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
“Sexual purity was to be the special virtue of a woman. It was assumed that men, as a matter of biological nature, would sin,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
“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,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
Behind the deceptive words designed to entice people into supporting violence -- words like democracy, freedom, self-defense, national security -- there is the reality… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
“George Washington had turned down the requests of blacks, seeking freedom, to fight in the Revolutionary army. So when the British military commander in… — Howard Zinn Copy Share
![“[W]e're taught that if one person kills another person, that is murder; but if a government kills a hundred thousand persons, that is patriotism.” quote by Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d06/howard-zinn-576_government_w-e-re-taught-that-if-one-person-kills-a_1087158.jpg)
