Michael Moore Quotes

Protest is when I say I don't like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don't like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this anymore. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too.

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.

We should not forget that our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past ... while we silence the rebels of the present.

I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience... If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.

Lighting that torch in Atlanta didn't make me nervous. Standing up to the government - that made me nervous.

Freedom fighters don't always win, but they're always right.

Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.

Non-co-operation means nothing less than training in self-sacrifice.

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

We must dissent from the fear.

Indeed, one perfect resister is enough to win the battle of Right against Wrong.

Civil disobedience is a preparation for mute suffering.

The highest form of patriotism is dissent.

Civil disobedience is a viable political tactic, and a non-violent tactic.

We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience... But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.

So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

There must be engagement: there must be protest.

The problem in this world is not civil disobedience...th e problem in this world is civil obedience.

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

Should I abide by the rules until they're changed, or help speed the change by breaking them?

A great many of us must move from words to acts - from words of dissent to acts of disobedience.

I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it.

I love revolutionaries who have the courage to stand up against the status quo. They're always misunderstood, but they're the ones who are standing up for human rights.

Dissidents can't be dissidents forever; we are dissidents because we don't want to be dissidents.