Roxane Gay Quotes

Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom of speech.

I can think of nothing worse than a think-tank where everybody agreed.

I've always been suspicious of collective truths.

Unanimity of opinion is characteristic of savages and civilization only advances as more and more people have the right to call wrong what the majority calls right..

We think that a powerful and vigorous movement is impossible without differences — "true conformity" is possible only in the cemetery.

May God prevent us from becoming "right-thinking men"-that is to say men who agree perfectly with their own police.

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

My books were attacked constantly by the Communist Party for not hewing to the Party line. I have never hewed to a Party line of any kind.

There are certain times when public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

Our schools too often want to shut people up so they can't talk about real solutions. People who think differently tend to clam up because they think something is wrong with their ideas.

Dogma not only blinds its protagonist, but it muzzles all other opposition.

If liberalism is to mean anything at all, it is duty bound to support without hesitation the dissenting individual over the group, the heretic over the orthodox, innovation over stagnation, and free speech over offense.

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.

People may believe that there can be a society where dissent is not permitted, but which is nonetheless not a fear society because everyone agrees with one another and therefore no one wants to dissent.

I worry that we are approaching a time when that which is shocking is squeezed out by the Stalinism of political correctness.

I will never be a fan of any kind of political correctness: I think it's instant death to creativity.

My view on Democrats is that they're fascists disguised as liberals, or liberal moderates. You're not allowed to say anything they don't agree with. You're not allowed to do anything.

A big part of the problem that we face today is that our children have been taught at schools that every idea is right, that no one should criticize others' positions, no matter how odious.

The hazing experience and then the subsequent participation in the group forces its members to maintain the status quo and traditions at all costs. It demands mindlessness and unquestioned loyalty, resulting in boring people who have little ability to think for themselves or have an opposing viewpoint from those who have the most social power.

A mob is not, as is so often said, mindless. A mob is single-minded.

... in so many Muslim communities now, saving face trumps critical thinking and truth-telling. This is why reform from within Islam is so difficult.

In a society of ideological believers, nothing is more ridiculous than the individual who doubts and does not conform.

When everyone is unanimous, I wonder whether they are right…. George, at every meeting henceforth I want you to make the most cogent and articulate argument against the war and I will never stop you.

No member of any society has a right to teach any doctrine contrary to what the society holds to be true.

The difference between being out of step with a dictator and being out of step with the democratic majority is practically negligible. The important thing is to be in step.