Noam Chomsky Quotes

Power is never so overwhelming that there's no room for resistance.

Male privilege and entitlement are dying a very painful death; no one gives up power without a struggle.

Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stand up and protest.

I think history repeats itself. There's a constant conversation between the oppressed and the oppressor. No matter what your field is, whether it's gender equality, the Time's Up movement, or diversity casting, it's always going to be a back-and-forth battle.

Politicians and lawmakers are willing to watch us take us a knee, watch us march, watch us picket and protest - and wait us out. They are willing and prepared to outlast us - and, in most cases, to do absolutely nothing about the problems we highlight and amplify.

it is immoral for powerless people to accept this powerlessness. They may not succeed in getting power but they can fight for it, and if enough fight for it, it makes it very difficult for the people with the big sticks.

Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle....goa ts are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.

Power cedes nothing without a demand.

They told us we wouldn’t get here. And there were those who said that we would get here only over their dead bodies, but all the world today knows that we are here and that we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, ‘We ain’t going to let nobody turn us around.’

Subversive language, however, must be constantly reinvented, because it is continually being co-opted by the powerful.

Our war cries opened the deaf ears of the almighty government and its accomplices.

But you know, the system almost destroyed itself while it was goin' on trying to destroy us.

And the spirit of revolution will not die while the hearts of these workers continue to beat.

No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.

Without alienation, there can be no politics.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Fight the power that be. Fight the power.

The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

Something happened during the 1980s - perhaps the political climate of that time - that caused me to ask how a people would become part of a system that oppresses their own people.

I just don't believe that when people are being unjustly oppressed that they should let someone else set rules for them by which they can come out from under that oppression.

The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.

Acceptance does not mean that you placidly acquiesce to the myriad injustices that are all around you. In fact, that you are incensed about these injustices is the very reason you need to try your level best to 'right' these 'wrongs.'

History dictates that unresponsive governments force ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence.

There is no shame in being compelled by force to accept an unjust and undesirable situation. It is shameful to accept such a fact without attempting to prevent it.