Sinclair Lewis Quotes

He killed his enemies because he was afraid they would kill him. Amin ordered entire tribes to be put to death, because he feared they would rebel.

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them.

When despots rule, cartoonists die.

A totalitarian society makes enormous demands on the courage of men, and a partially totalitarian society makes even greater demands because the general anxiety is greater.

Spineless politics do not change the mind of a tyrant.

Will they attack us? Yes. Will they smear our backgrounds and distort our records? Undoubtedly. Will they lie about us, harass our families, namecall to try to intimidate us? They will. There's nothing safe about it. But is it worth it? Well, let me ask you. Is freedom worth it? Is America worth it?

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves.

Dictators must have enemies. They must have internal enemies to justify their secret police and external enemies to justify their military forces.

The more rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech, the more obstinately are they resisted; …. laws directed against opinions affect the generous minded rather than the wicked, and are adapted less for coercing criminals than for irritating the upright; so that they cannot be maintained without great peril to the state.

You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken – unspeakable fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts!

It is dangerous to speak the truth to tyrants.

Many who tried to enlighten were hanged from the lamppost.

Either you were opposed to the growth of Fascism and went out to fight against it, or you acquiesced in its crimes and permitted its growth.

It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels …. If a teacher refuses a warning to give up his job, he must be beaten…. If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him.

Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death, but I have learned to overcome my fear.

Root out the counterrevolutionaries without mercy, lock up suspicious characters in concentration camps... Shirkers will be shot, regardless of past service.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the stake.

I would not let myself be intimidated by Yahya Khan, his methods had led us to disaster.

Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.

Why does any martyr cooperate with his judases?...We see a game beyond the endgame...As Seneca warned Nero: No matter how many of us you kill, you will never kill your successor.

There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everybody go along to get along, but that's not going to be very helpful for us in the long run, in terms of solving our problems. And somebody has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to, you know, the bullies.

I do not accept being a prisoner of fear. Of Communism, of fascism. That, one can bear. But of one's fear. No. Never.

Life without Liberty is far worse than death.