Howard Zinn Quotes

Civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience democracy does not exist.

We will continue civil disobedience to fight for democracy and for human rights in Hong Kong.

The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all.

A little rebellion is a good thing.

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even tacitly take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.

...dissent, protest, presures of a wide variety that escape elite control can modify the calculus of costs of planners, and offer a slight hope that Washington can be compelled to permit at least some steps towards "justice, freedom and democracy" within its domains.

To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of "the proper channels," a way of breaking through passages blocked by tradition and prejudice. It is disruptive and troublesome, but it is a necessary disruption, a healthy troublesome.

Those of us who decided to work for democracy in Burma made our choice in the conviction that the danger of standing up for basic human rights in a repressive society was preferable to the safety of a quiescent life in servitude

Civil disobedience can never be in general terms, such as for independence.

I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

The real truth is, I just want to keep the voice of dissent alive in all of our elections. I don't really want to hang out with politicians.

There are good reasons for being in jail - for protesting.

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

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

During President George W. Bush's two terms, you couldn't drive far without seeing a particular bumper sticker: 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.'

How many of you are willing to go to jail for freedom?

The protest is part of the American way of life.

These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest

It is repression that creates the revolutionary spirit of freedom.

Protest is when I say this does not please me. Resistance is when I ensure what does not please me occurs no more.

Well, protest is central to the evolution of black American culture. It was protest that really finally won our freedom for us. Beyond that, it's always interesting to note that it expanded the idea of democracy.

Peaceful protest is a hallmark of our democracy. It has been in impetus for social change throughout our history.

Liberty lives in protest and democracy prospers under conditions of change. When we travel about the world and come to a country whose newspapers are filled with bad news we feel that liberty lives in that land. When we come to a country whose newspapers are filled with good news, we feel differently.