Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

If our Constitution is destroyed, if our right to free speech is denied, then we have the right to use whatever means necessary to survive and advance our position.

In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist.

The lyrics stand today (1980). They're still my feeling about politics. I want to see the plan. I want to know what you're going to do after you've knocked it all down. I mean, can't we use some of it? What's the point of bombing Wall Street? If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people.

The only thing that's going to free Huey is gun powder.

You can't change the system through violence.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.

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

The foundation of our movement rests on complete non-violence, whereas violence is the final refuge of the Government. And as no energy can be created without resistance, our nonresistance to Government violence must bring the latter to a standstill.

Only force would produce social change.

A dozen or more heroes dashing up two flights of stairs, prepared to stake their lives for their country, only to discover the two dangerous disturbers and trouble-makers, Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, in their separate offices, quietly at work at their desks, wielding not a sword, nor a gun or a bomb, but merely their pens!

We are on the threshold of a significant breakthrough, and the greatest weapon is the mass demonstration.

I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up or take a knee for your rights - anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

On some campuses, change is effected through nonviolent or even violent means.

The absolute key issue is: how do you create enough political pressure? It's up to us to create that political will and there are tried and tested techniques for doing that. So we're talking about the need for civil disobedience that escalates into a rebellion and uprising.

Change comes when people are willing to commit acts of peaceful civil disobedience.

You know in democracy you can protest peacefully and I'm sure you know it will have at least some kind of impact. You need to raise your voice. If you can't do much, you know, but at least raise you voice. Raising your voice is something you need to do.

My father believed in armed struggle.

I despise all those who fight for peace. It's only the bad guys and the troublemakers who create entertaining and history-changing events.

Civil disobedience is the only nonviolent escape from the soul-destroying heat of violence.

I hold that the world is sick of armed rebellions.

I don't accept armed struggle. Maybe it was the way in the '50s and '60s, but we want a democratic revolution.

All I’m saying is that perhaps we can make a revolution without violence.

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. And then he wins the world peace prize and becomes president of South Africa. That's how change happens. It's very important not to differentiate protest from the democratic process.

I witnessed a lot of violence, and I found myself asking the question: Do you ever use violence to try to bring about political change?