Paulo Freire Quotes

... within every form of oppression lies the seeds of liberation.

The work does not end with the abolition of slavery but only begins.

It was imperative to make common cause with the oppressed in order to secure a new system opposed to the ambitions and governing habits of the oppressors.

Transformation is only valid if it is carried out with the people, not for them. Liberation is like a childbirth, and a painful one. The person who emerges is a new person: no longer either oppressor or oppressed, but a person in the process of achieving freedom. It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their oppressors.

Our objective is complete freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.

Not only was I not born to be a slave; I was not born to hope to become the equal of the slave master.

Who but shall learn that freedom is the prize Man still is bound to rescue or maintain; That nature's God commands the slave to rise, And on the oppressor's head to break the chain. Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round, Till not a slave shall on this earth by found.

In raising a people from slavery to freedom, you have called them to act on a new theatre; and it is a necessary part of your business, to teach them how to perform their parts.

God wants to set the oppressed free from being oppressed and the oppressors free from oppressing.

The miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic's definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity and their responsibility for one another. It is an extraordinary achievement to be trapped in the dungeon of color and to dare to shake down its walls and to step out of it leaving the jailkeeper in the rubble.

Certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation.

Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right.

Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.

The people have now come to realize that the only way to deal with the oppressor is to deal on our own terms and this was done.

We're not trying to take power away or rule anybody - we're just trying to get up from under the rulers.

Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day drawing near.

Trust me that as I ignore all law to help the slave, so will I ignore it all to protect an enslaved woman.

Emancipation - what is meant by it? Simply that the slaves shall cease to be held as property and shall henceforth be held and treated as human beings. Simply, that we should take our feet from off their necks.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been interested in issues of social justice, political freedom, and civil rights.

To this wonderful page in our country's history another more glorious still will be added, and the slave shall show at last to his free brothers a sharpened sword forged from the links of his fetters.

No people will be truly free until all are free.

… true emancipation begins neither at the polls nor in the courts. It begins in woman's soul. History tells us that every oppressed class gained true liberation from its masters through its own efforts.

You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression …

Without Country you have neither name, token, voice, nor rights …. Do not delude yourselves with the hope of emancipation from unjust social conditions if you do not first conquer a country for yourselves.

There is nobody on this planet who was ever liberated by an athlete or an entertainer.