Bystanders Quotes

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  What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.

  Elie Wiesel

  Hurt, Pain, Silence

  "Courage To Care - Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust" by Carol Rittner and Sandra Meyers, NYU Press, (p. 2), 1986.

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• In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Friendship, Wisdom, Kings

  "The Trumpet of Conscience". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s steeler lecture at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

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• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

  Elie Wiesel

  Peace, History, Remembrance

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.170, Schocken

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• There are no innocent bystanders.

  William S. Burroughs

  Innocent

  William S. Burroughs (1973). “Exterminator!: A novel”, Viking Pr

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• Most evil in the world is only partly because of an evil person. Most of it is because of the complicity of bystanders.

  Tim Kaine

  Evil, World, Complicity

  Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

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• 

  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

  Edmund Burke

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Witty

  330 Copy quote

• It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering.

  Judith Lewis Herman

  Pain, Speak No Evil, Desire

  Judith Lewis Herman (1997). “Trauma and Recovery”, p.7, Basic Books

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• Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

  Elie Wiesel

  Holocaust, Remembrance, Silence

  Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 11 Dec. 1986

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• Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people they are an aperture through which wounds drain. The scapegoat of olden times, driven off for the bystanders sins, has become a tender thing, a running injury. There, running away is me: hurt it and you are hurting me.

  Edward Hoagland

  Running, Hurt, Animal

  Edward Hoagland (1995). “The Tugman's Passage”

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• The future is in our hands. We are not hapless bystanders. We can influence whether we have a planet of peace, social justice, equity, and growth or a planet of unbridgeable differences between peoples, wasted resources, corruption, and terror.

  James Wolfensohn

  Past, Hands, Differences

  24 Copy quote
• 

  Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

  Elie Wiesel

  Remembrance, Silence, Holocaust

  Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 11 Dec. 1986

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• The measure of a civilization is in the courage, not of its soldiers, but of its bystanders.

  Jack McDevitt

  Civilization, Soldier

  Jack McDevitt (2004). “A Talent For War”, p.194, Penguin

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• The horror of the Holocaust is not that it deviated from human norms; the horror is that it didn't. What happened may happen again, to others not necessarily Jews, perpetrated by others, not necessarily Germans. We are all possible victims, possible perpetrators, possible bystanders.

  Yehuda Bauer

  Holocaust, May, Horror

  36 Copy quote

• To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate.

  Mark Steyn

  Fate, Government

  "Don't wait for government protection". www.jewishworldreview.com. September 17, 2003.

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• There are no bystanders in life [...] Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Humanity, Greater

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• It is not open to the cool bystander . . . to set himself up as an impartial judge of events which would never have occurred had he outstretched a helping hand in time.

  Winston Churchill

  Time, Hands, Judging

  Sir Winston Churchill (1954). “Sir Winston Churchill: a self-portrait”

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• There are moments in our lives when we summon the courage to make choices that go against reason, against common sense and the wise counsel of people we trust. But we lean forward nonetheless because, despite all risks and rational argument, we believe that the path we are choosing is right and best thing to do. We refuse to be bystanders, even if we do not know exactly where our actions will lead.

  Howard Schultz

  Wise, Believe, People

  Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon (2012). “Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul”, p.7, Rodale

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• One of the ill effects of cruelty is that it makes the bystanders cruel.

  Sir Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet

  Animal, Cruelty, Ill

  31 Copy quote

• I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.

  Elie Wiesel

  Remembrance, Silence, Holocaust

  Elie Wiesel (2012). “Night”, p.141, Macmillan

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• And Thou shalt never, but never be a bystander.

  Yehuda Bauer

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• Don't settle! Embrace a dream--and keep dreaming. Don't be a bystander. Take it personally.

  Howard Schultz

  Dream, Settling, Embrace

  12 Copy quote

• There are no innocent civilians, so it doesn't bother me so much to be killing innocent bystanders.

  Curtis LeMay

  Killing, Innocent, Bother

  119 Copy quote

• Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue. Every natural action is graceful; every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Beauty, God, Shining

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt McLaughlin (2010). “The Laws of Nature: Excerpts from the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.21, North Atlantic Books

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• Art changes posture and posture changes innocent bystanders.

  Seth Godin

  Art, Innocent, Posture

  Seth Godin (2010). “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?”, p.74, Penguin

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