Oppressor Quotes - page 3

Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first, that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. ... Freedom is never given to anybody. For the oppressor has you in domination because he plans to keep you there, and he never voluntarily gives it up. And that is where the strong resistance comes. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance. (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Mass non-violent protest is predicated on the humanity of the oppressor. Quite often it doesn't work. Sometimes it does, in unexpected ways. But judgements about that would have to be based on intimate knowledge of the society and its various strands. View quote
Noam Chomsky
The trodden worms, which had so long writhed under the iron heel of the oppressor, were turning at last. The smouldering fire of discontent was shooting out tongues of flame here and there. The sore stricken, who had brooded in sullen anger over their wrongs, were rising to strike in their turn. View quote
Joseph Arch
O fortunate one, thy vow hath become successful. The lord of the celestials hath been gratified, and is willing to give thee a son such as thou desirest, of superhuman achievements and great fame. He will be the oppressor of all enemies and possessed of great wisdom. Endued with a great soul, in splendour equal unto the Sun, invincible in battles, and of great achievements, he will also be extremely handsome. O thou of fair hips and sweet smiles, the lord of the celestials hath become gracious to thee. Invoking him, bring thou forth a child who will be the very home of all Kshatriya virtues. View quote
Kunti
The king may or may not be an oppressor. If he is not an oppressor, then no matter. If he is a tyrant, it is necessary to give him advice and counsel. It is incumbent to avoid him. It is not permitted to harm him, except at that time when all the people have turned against him and he has no way to flee. At that time, that leader is like a rapacious beast that will rend human beings limb from limb and crush their bones. Naturally, expelling him from his position is necessary, but without harming him. View quote
Subh-i-Azal
The idea that the Internet favors the oppressed rather than the oppressor is marred by what I call cyber-utopianism: a naive belief in the emancipatory nature of online communication that rests on a stubborn refusal to admit its downside. View quote
Evgeny Morozov
Very few men imprisoned for economic crimes or even crimes of passion against the oppressor feel that they are really guilty. View quote
George Jackson
What people don't know about oppression is that the oppressor works much harder. You always grew up being told you were not smart enough or not fast enough, but we all lived from the time we were children to beat the system. View quote
Hugh Masekela
Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed. View quote
Wally Lamb
The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. View quote
Paulo Freire
Revolution is born as a social entity within the oppressor society. (Paulo Freire)
This oppressor, this machine that has gone mad and run amok, it is berserk. They keep telling us, "progress.” They keep telling us "face reality.” Well, let's deal with reality. Reality is the Earth can no longer take this attack. We can no longer allow this Thing to continue when it's polluting the air, it's polluting the water, polluting our food. They pollute the air, they pollute the water, they pollute our food, they pollute our minds. View quote
John Trudell
We have to understand who we are and where we fit in the natural order of the world because our oppressor deals in illusions. They tell us that it is power, but it is not power. They may have all the guns and they may have all the racist laws and judges, and they may control all the money, but that is not power. These are imitations of power and they are only ‘power' because in our minds we allow it to be power. View quote
John Trudell
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. So as a prelude whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior. View quote
Steve Biko
You believe that America is the last best hope for the free world. Boy, was I a moron for believing that. Nope, there are a lot of people that believe that we are the oppressor. This man states it. He states in this book "The purpose is to create mass organizations to seize power." View quote
Glenn Beck
We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. View quote
Theodore Roosevelt
Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it. View quote
Cesar Chavez
The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God. View quote
Cesar Chavez
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. View quote
Desmond Tutu
Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to rule and sit upon the throne; and being oppressed, thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. View quote
Robert Barclay
The laws of changeless justice bind Oppressor with oppressed And close as sin and suffering joined We march to fate abreast. (John Greenleaf Whittier)
The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with this interpretation of the crimes of the strong. View quote
Carter Woodson
A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. View quote
Nelson Mandela
He seeks an economic order, alternative to the capitalist and communist, and finds this in sarvodaya based on nonviolence (ahimsa). He rejects Darwin's survival of the fittest, Adam Smith's laissez-faire and Karl Marx's thesis of a natural antagonism between capital and labor, and focuses on the interdependence between the two. He believes in the human capacity to change and wages Satyagraha against the oppressor, not to destroy him but to transform him, that he cease his oppression and join the oppressed in the pursuit of Truth. View quote
Nelson Mandela
To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. Religion reminds every man that he is his brother's keeper. To accept injustice. View quote
Martin Luther King Jr.