Howard Zinn quotes - page 2

How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism? (Howard Zinn)
War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times. View quote
Howard Zinn
When you fight a war against a tyrant, who do you kill? You kill the victims of the tyrant. View quote
Howard Zinn
I wonder how the foreign policies of the United States would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own. View quote
Howard Zinn
In the long run, the oppressor is also a victim. In the short run (and so far, human history has consisted only of short runs), the victims, themselves desperate and tainted with the culture that oppresses them, turn on other victims. View quote
Howard Zinn
Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people. View quote
Howard Zinn
They were not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, they were absent in the Constitution and they were invisible in the new political democracy. They were the women of early America. View quote
Howard Zinn
And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners. View quote
Howard Zinn
That chain of relationships made me think of how connections are made--you read a book, you meet a person, you have a single experience, and your life is changed in some way. No act, therefore, however small, should be dismissed or ignored. View quote
Howard Zinn
War itself is the enemy of the human race. View quote
Howard Zinn
But human beings are not machines, and however powerful the pressure to conform, they sometimes are so moved by what they see as injustice that they dare to declare their independence. In that historical possibility lies hope. (Howard Zinn)
Any humane and reasonable person must conclude that if the ends, however desireable, are uncertain and the means are horrible and certain, these means must not be employed. View quote
Howard Zinn
In war, good guys always become bad guys. View quote
Howard Zinn
The memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away, and for such people, with such memories, revolt is always an inch below the surface. View quote
Howard Zinn
But by this time I was acutely conscious of the gap between law and justice. I knew that the letter of the law was not as important as who held the power in any real-life situation. View quote
Howard Zinn
Politics is pointless if it does nothing to enhance the beauty of our lives. View quote
Howard Zinn
There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States. View quote
Howard Zinn
Each situation has to be evaluated separately, for all are different. In general, I believe in non-violent direct action, which involve organizing large numbers of people, whereas too often violent uprisings are the product of a small group. If enough people are organized, violence can be minimized in bringing about social change. View quote
Howard Zinn
Control in modern times requires more than force, more than law. It requires that a population dangerously concentrated in cities and factories, whose lives are filled with cause for rebellion, be taught that all is right as it is. View quote
Howard Zinn
Tyranny is Tyranny, let it come from whom it may. View quote
Howard Zinn
We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. (Howard Zinn)
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. View quote
Howard Zinn
We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children. War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times. View quote
Howard Zinn
What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but "who is sitting in" -- and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change. View quote
Howard Zinn
I am not an absolute pacifist, because I can't rule out the possibility that under some, carefully defined circumstances, some degree of violence may be justified, if it is focused directly at a great evil. View quote
Howard Zinn