Gene Sharp

There’s one thing that’s been 'learned' maybe from Tunisia and Egypt that I think is a mistake. And that is that the…

— Gene Sharp

Nonviolent action involves opposing the opponent's power, including his police and military capacity, not with the weapons chosen by him but by…

— Gene Sharp

“In some cases, however, limited violence against the dictatorship may be inevitable. Frustration and hatred of the regime may explode into violence.…

— Gene Sharp

“Liberation from dictatorships ultimately depends on the people's ability to liberate themselves.”

— Gene Sharp

“Engage in friendly creative communication with the functionaries and troops serving the putschists while continuing resistance. Explain to them the reasons for…

— Gene Sharp

“The degree of liberty or tyranny in any government is in large degree a reflection of the relative determination of the subjects…

— Gene Sharp

Violence by the defenders will be used by the putschists to justify overwhelming repression which they want to use anyhow. It will…

— Gene Sharp

Nonviolent struggle is the most powerful means available to those struggling for freedom.

— Gene Sharp

The degree of liberty or tyranny in any government is, it follows, in large degree a reflection of the relative determination of…

— Gene Sharp

“As Charles Stewart Parnell called out during the Irish rent strike campaign in 1879 and 1880: It is no use relying on…

— Gene Sharp

Dictatorships are never as strong as they think they are, and people are never as weak as they think they are.

— Gene Sharp

By placing confidence in violent means, one has chosen the very type of struggle with which the oppressors nearly always have superiority.

— Gene Sharp

“Nonviolent defiance often risks serious casualities, but it seem to produce far fewer casualitie than when both sides use violence. At the…

— Gene Sharp

That is straight out of Gandhi. If people are not afraid of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble. … If…

— Gene Sharp

The fall of one regime does not bring in a utopia. Rather, it opens the way for hard work and long efforts…

— Gene Sharp

“The first basic principle of ‪‎anti coup‬ defense is therefore to deny legitimacy to the putschists”

— Gene Sharp

Whatever promises offered by dictators in any negotiated settlement, no one should ever forget that the dictators may promise anything to secure…

— Gene Sharp

“Nonviolent struggle both requires and tends to produce a loss (or greater control) of fear of the government and its violent repression.…

— Gene Sharp

You have a chance of learning -- if you want to and youre not arrogant.

— Gene Sharp

It's a nonsense assumption that you can get rid of terrorism with war. Terrorism is taking the lives of innocent people to…

— Gene Sharp

Some foreign states will act against a dictatorship only to gain their own economic, political, or military control over the country.

— Gene Sharp

Contrary to popular opinion, even totalitarian dictatorships are dependent on the population and the societies they rule.

— Gene Sharp

So, he reasoned, if you can identify the sources of a government's power - people working in civil service, police and judges,…

— Gene Sharp

As soon as you choose to fight with violence you're choosing to fight against your opponents best weapons and you have to…

— Gene Sharp

“Heavy repression against the nonviolent defenders may also arouse stronger international opposition to the coup and mobilize inernational opinion and diplomatic and…

— Gene Sharp