--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is no doctrine called extremism…" description: "\"“There is no doctrine called extremism. When tyrants speak of extremists, they just mean people who are not in the mainstream—as the tyrants themselves..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/timothy-snyder-882_mean-people_there-is-no-doctrine-called-extremism-wh_1213583.jpg" --- # There is no doctrine called extremism. When tyrants speak… ![“There is no doctrine called extremism. When tyrants speak of extremists, they just mean people who are not in the mainstream—as the tyrants themselves are defining” quote by Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/timothy-snyder-882_mean-people_there-is-no-doctrine-called-extremism-wh_1213583.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/timothy-snyder-882_mean-people_there-is-no-doctrine-called-extremism-wh_1213583.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/timothy-snyder-882_mean-people_there-is-no-doctrine-called-extremism-wh_1213583.jpg) > ““There is no doctrine called extremism. When tyrants speak of extremists, they just mean people who are not in the mainstream—as the tyrants themselves are defining”” [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that “extremism” is a label used by tyrants to marginalize dissent, while they themselves are the true extremists. **In simple terms:** Extremism is a tool of tyrants to silence non‑mainstream voices. Key Takeaway Question who defines “extremism” and why. Themes history power labeling Mood critical reflective Type philosophical political When to use this quote - activist movements - media analysis - educational curricula - legal debates Key Concepts authoritarianism political rhetoric social control Questions to Reflect On - Who benefits from calling others extremists? - How can societies protect legitimate dissent? A Different Perspective Labeling can be misused to justify oppression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Extremism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremism/) [Extremists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremists/) [Mean people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean-people/) ## Related quotes > [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Extremism certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word terrorism in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it-2/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“There is no doctrine called extremism. When tyrants speak of extremists, they just mean people who are not in the mainstream—as the tyrants themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/there-is-no-doctrine-called-extremism-when-tyrants-speak-of/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists; it's not just Zarqawi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-abizaid/as-far-as-zarqawi-is-concerned-there-is-a-network-of-extremists-it-s/) [John Abizaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-abizaid/) > [Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-d-kristof/americans-have-called-on-moderates-in-muslim-countries-to-speak-out/) [Nicholas D. Kristof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-d-kristof/) > [Saying that the origin of the Islamic State (IS) is within the Muslim Brotherhood organisation only strengthens IS. This is what the Israeli government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/saying-that-the-origin-of-the-islamic-state-is-is-within-the-muslim-2/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [We have to understand how the extremists got the way they are. Without that kind of understanding, we'd never really get to know them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-ronson/we-have-to-understand-how-the-extremists-got-the-way-they-are-without/) [Jon Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-ronson/) > [“The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr-2/the-question-is-not-if-we-will-be-extremists-but-what-kind-of/) [Martin Luther King Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr-2/) > [“Extremists and their supports cause you to align yourself with something you're not in order to get as far away as possible from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-crosley/extremists-and-their-supports-cause-you-to-align-yourself-with/) [Sloane Crosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-crosley/) > [Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/will-we-be-extremists-for-hate-or-will-we-be-extremists-for-love-will/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [“A true fanatic, his promptings were reasons enough for his actions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-e-howard/a-true-fanatic-his-promptings-were-reasons-enough-for-his-actions/) [Robert E. Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-e-howard/) > [A 2014 survey found that 74% of law-enforcement agencies reported antigovernment extremism as one of the top terrorist threats. Just 3% of those agencies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibrahim-hooper/a-2014-survey-found-that-74-of-law-enforcement-agencies-reported/) [Ibrahim Hooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibrahim-hooper/) > [“We live in a time when moderates are treated worse than extremists, being punished as if they were more fanatical than the actual fanatics.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/we-live-in-a-time-when-moderates-are-treated-worse-than-extremists/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr-2/the-question-is-not-whether-we-will-be-extremists-but-what-kind-of/) [Martin Luther King Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr-2/) > [“Kill extremists and more extremists will appear. Kill Extremist Ideology and extremism will disappear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mouloud-benzadi/kill-extremists-and-more-extremists-will-appear-kill-extremist/) [Mouloud Benzadi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mouloud-benzadi/) ## More by Timothy Snyder > [“Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/nationalism-is-relativist-since-the-only-truth-is-the-resentment-we/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“salami tactics—slicing off layers of opposition one by one. Most people were distracted, some were imprisoned, and others were outmatched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/salami-tactics-slicing-off-layers-of-opposition-one-by-one-most/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The key to this translation of ideology to politics in both cases was an effective appeal to human experience at the crucial time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-key-to-this-translation-of-ideology-to-politics-in-both-cases-was/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/both-of-these-positions-inevitability-and-eternity-are-antihistorical/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: It assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-whole-notion-of-disruption-is-adolescent-it-assumes-that-after/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“As she observed, “the first essential step on the road to total domination is to kill the juridical person in man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-she-observed-the-first-essential-step-on-the-road-to-total/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-first-mode-is-the-open-hostility-to-verifiable-reality-which/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Once we subliminally accept that we are watching a reality show rather than thinking about real life, no image can actually hurt the president…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/once-we-subliminally-accept-that-we-are-watching-a-reality-show/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Confidence in duration is the antidote to panic and the tonic of demagogy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/confidence-in-duration-is-the-antidote-to-panic-and-the-tonic-of/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/be-calm-when-the-unthinkable-arrives-modern-tyranny-is-terror/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/life-is-political-not-because-the-world-cares-about-how-you-feel-but/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Explore all 339 Timothy Snyder quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## More Extremism quotes > [“Kill extremists and more extremists will appear. Kill Extremist Ideology and extremism will disappear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mouloud-benzadi/kill-extremists-and-more-extremists-will-appear-kill-extremist/) [Mouloud Benzadi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mouloud-benzadi/) > [“It is very difficult to convince a person to come out of his conservative shell, unless he feels discomfort there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarif-naaz/it-is-very-difficult-to-convince-a-person-to-come-out-of-his/) [Tarif Naaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarif-naaz/) > [Not only do we still engage in wars far away from our homes, which settle nothing and fuel extremism in the aftermath, we sell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declan-mckenna/not-only-do-we-still-engage-in-wars-far-away-from-our-homes-which/) [Declan McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/declan-mckenna/) > [“Bombs kill terrorists, Books kill terrorism. Missiles kill extremists, Mindfulness kills extremism. Guns kill supremacists, Goodness kills supremacy. Law restrains cruel people, Love reforms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/bombs-kill-terrorists-books-kill-terrorism-missiles-kill-extremists/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [I think the only way one can really determine whether extremism in the defense of liberty is justified, is not to approach it as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/i-think-the-only-way-one-can-really-determine-whether-extremism-in/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Freedom is never granted. It is earned by each generation... in the face of tyranny, cruelty, oppression, extremism, sometimes there is only one choice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/freedom-is-never-granted-it-is-earned-by-each-generation-in-the-face/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [People are just afraid of things too much … Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-ocean/people-are-just-afraid-of-things-too-much-sure-evil-exists-extremism/) [Frank Ocean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-ocean/) > [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr-2/the-question-is-not-whether-we-will-be-extremists-but-what-kind-of/) [Martin Luther King Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr-2/) > [We will see that the greatest problem confronting civilization is not merely religious extremism: rather, it is the larger set of cultural and intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/we-will-see-that-the-greatest-problem-confronting-civilization-is-not/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [“If Jack Dylan was Captain Ahab, Bart Breitner was Moby Dick. Jack felt exhilarated, as Ahab must have felt when he finally encountered the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-m-bello/if-jack-dylan-was-captain-ahab-bart-breitner-was-moby-dick-jack-felt/) [Mark M. Bello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-m-bello/) > [There’s no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-earley/there-s-no-need-to-get-rid-of-literally-hundreds-of-thousands-of/) Mark Earley > [I have a particular disdain for Islamic extremism, and of course, in both 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' that's obvious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/i-have-a-particular-disdain-for-islamic-extremism-and-of-course-in/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ferguson/if-allowed-to-continue-this-process-will-turn-the-united-states-into/) [Charles Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ferguson/) > [One outcome is almost certain. Extremism stands to benefit enormously from an uncalculated adventure in Iraq,.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-javad-zarif/one-outcome-is-almost-certain-extremism-stands-to-benefit-enormously/) [Mohammad Javad Zarif](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-javad-zarif/) [Browse all 365 Extremism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There is no doctrine called extremism. 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