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
I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away, and for such people, with such memories, revolt is… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
My hope is that the memory of death and disgrace will be so intense that the people of the United States will… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I try to tell each group that it is not alone, and that the very people who are disheartened by the absence… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
There is a hard core of people in the United States who will not be moved, whatever facts you present, from their… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured. Those special people who speak… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
What most of us must be involved in--whether we teach or write, make films, write films, direct films, play music, act, whatever… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I believe there are huge numbers of people in this country who would be willing to have radical changes in our economic… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
What is called “apathy” is, I believe, a feeling of helplessness on the part of the ordinary citizen, a feeling of impotence… — 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
There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The problem of giving health care to everybody cannot be solved so long as we're spending huge sums of money for war.… — 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
Surely, if it is the right of the people to "alter or abolish," it is their right to criticize, even severely, policies… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
There was an idea in the air, becoming clearer and stronger, an idea not just in the theories of Karl Marx but… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The awful scenes of death and suffering we were witnessing on our television screens have been going on in other parts of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
That's generally true of people who drop bombs from high altitudes. You don't know what's going on below. You don't see the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The Roman Empire came to an end, but the Roman people didn't come to an end, so I see the American Empire… — 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
I had always insisted that a good education was a synthesis of book learning and involvement in social action, that each enriched… — 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
Here's a president who gets 47 or 48 percent of the vote and takes 100 percent of the power, as if he… — 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
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
Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Democracy depends on citizens being informed, and since our media, especially television (which is the most important source of news for most… — 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
I start from the supposition that the world is topsyturvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
War is by definition the indiscriminate killing of huge numbers of people for ends that are uncertain. Think about means and ends,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I came to the conclusion that war was an unacceptable way of solving whatever problems there were in the world--that there 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
The stories coming out of Iraq everyday - the violence, the chaos, the deaths of Americans, the deaths of Iraqis... Of course… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
For most Black people there is still poverty and desperation. The Ghettos still exist, and the proportion of Blacks in prison is… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
No doubt that anarchist ideas are frightening to those in power. People in power can tolerate liberal ideas. They can tolerate ideas… — 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
“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
