Dissent Quotes - Page 10

• I do not say this, that I think there should be no difference of opinions in conversation, nor opposition in men's discourses... 'Tis not the owning one's dissent from another, that I speak against, but the manner of doing it.

  John Locke

  Men, Thinking, Differences

  John Locke, George Berkeley (2010). “Locke, Berkely & Hume”, p.134, Cosimo, Inc.

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• I'm kind of perverse in that I think pessimism is helpful. My pessimism is my own kind of patriotism. My dissent.

  Tracy Letts

  Thinking, Helpful, Kind

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• Dissent without action is consent.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Action, Consent

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• The most un-American thing you can do is to stifle dissent

  Utah Phillips

  Can Do

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• growth requires purposeful division. Responsible dissent is the essence of democracy.

  Abigail McCarthy

  Essence, Growth, Democracy

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• Unlike lions and dogs, we are a dissenting animal. We need to dissent in the same way that we need to travel, to make money, to keep a record of our time on earth and in dream, and to leave a permanent mark. Dissension is a drive, like those drives.

  Carol Bly

  Dream, Dog, Animal

  Carol Bly (1988). “Letters from the Country”, HarperCollins

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• We must dissent from the fear.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Racism And Prejudice, Mistrust

  Thurgood Marshall, J. Clay Smith, Jr. (2003). “Supreme Justice: Speeches and Writings”, p.15, University of Pennsylvania Press

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• Even when alternative views are clearly wrong, being exposed to them still expands our creative potential. In a way, the power of dissent is the power of surprise. After hearing someone shout out an errant answer, we work to understand it, which causes us to reassess our initial assumptions and try out new perspectives. “Authentic dissent can be difficult, but it’s always invigorating,” Nemeth says. “It wakes us right up.”

  Jonah Lehrer

  Views, California, Perspective

  "Groupthink: The brainstorming myth" by Jonah Lehrer, www.newyorker.com. January 30, 2012.

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• But you go to a great school, not for knowledge so much as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice a new intellectual posture, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the habit of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, for discrimination, for mental courage and mental soberness.

  William Johnson Cory

  Art, School, Expression

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• But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty.

  Ron Paul

  Safety, Understanding, Desire

  Congressional Record, Volume 153, pt. 10, 2010.

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• There are some things more important than ourselves - more important than the limits of the present, and the whims of the now. There is a future to build and protect. And if we're going to make that future as reality, we have to stop fighting among ourselves. We have to end dissent whenever we find it. We have to trust one another again.

  Dan Wells

  Fighting, Reality, Important

  Dan Wells (2012). “Partials (Partials, Book 1)”, p.15, HarperCollins UK

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• Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. Given the force of the group's normative power to shape the opinions of the followers who conform without thinking things through, they are often taken at face value. The persistent minority forces the others to process the relevant information more mindfully. Research shows that the deciscions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there is minority dissent than when it is absent.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Taken, Thoughtful, Thinking

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• And only the very courageous will be able to keep alive the spirit of individualism and dissent which gave birth to this nation, nourished it as an infant, and carried it through its severest tests upon the attainment of its maturity.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Maturity, Alive

  John F. Kennedy (1964). “Profiles In Courage”

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• In an echo of earlier times, the climate change prophets have in recent years tried to silence counter views and suppress dissent. August members of the Royal Society, a body once noted for its cultivation of debate in science, are now leaders of the 'science is settled' camp: the only debate they consider to be legitimate is about choice among the different forms of the centralized action they believe is required to deal with the problems they foresee.

  Colin Robinson

  Believe, Echoes, Views

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• He who dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use, he who is master of the press and radio, is master of the mind. Repeat mechanically your assumptions and suggestions, diminish the opportunity for communicating dissent and opposition. This is the formula for political conditioning of the masses.

  Joost Meerloo

  Opportunity, Political, Mind

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• I disagree with the Supreme Court's decision and I agree with the dissent. What the court did not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States, and that is I will act to repeal ObamaCare.

  Mitt Romney

  Obamacare, Decision, President

  Romney remarks on high court ruling upholding Obama health care law, www.foxnews.com. June 28, 2012.

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• To advance from a nuanced dissent to a compelling vision, progressive policymakers should turn to the great mainstay of twentieth-century U.S. foreign policy: liberal internationalism... (which) should offer assertive leadership - diplomatic, economic, and not least, military - to advance a broad array of goals.

  Suzanne Nossel

  Military, Goal, Vision

  "Smart Power" by Suzanne Nossel, www.foreignaffairs.com. March/April 2004.

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• In America, you can segregate the people, but the problems will travel. From slavery to equal rights, from state suppression of dissent to crime, drugs and unemployment, I can't think of a supposedly Black issue that hasn't wasted the original Black target group and then spread like measles to outlying white experience.

  June Jordan

  Thinking, America, Issues

  June Jordan (1986). “On call: political essays”

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• When misfortunes happen to such as dissent from us in matters of religion, we call them judgments; when to those of our own sect, we call them trials; when to persons neither way distinguished, we are content to attribute them to the settled course of things.

  William Shenstone

  Trials, Matter, Way

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• Free thought means fearless thought. It is not deterred by legal penalties, nor by spiritual consequences. Dissent from the Bible does not alarm the true investigator, who takes truth for authority not authority for truth. The thinker who is really free, is independent; he is under no dread; he yields to no menace; he is not dismayed by law, nor custom, nor pulpits, nor society-whose opinion appals so many. He who has the manly passion of free thought, has no fear of anything, save the fear of error.

  George Holyoake

  Spiritual, Passion, Mean

  George Jacob Holyoake (1896). “English Secularism: A Confession of Belief”, p.18, Library of Alexandria

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• To respect Louis Farrakhan, we must understand, is simply to agree with him... If dissent is now also to be thought of as a form of 'dissing,' then we have indeed succumbed to the thought police.

  Salman Rushdie

  Police, Religion, Dissing

  Salman Rushdie (2008). “Step Across This Line”, p.81, Random House

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• This is an amazing country, for all of its faults. My feeling is, dig in and let's try to change the world. Dissent is not only your right, it's your duty.

  Susan Sarandon

  Country, Feelings, Patriotism

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• Our media, which is like a planetary nervous system, are far more sensitive to breakdowns than to breakthroughs. They filter out our creativity and successes, considering them less newsworthy than violence, war, and dissent. When we read newspapers and watch television news, we feel closer to a death in the social body than to an awakening.

  Barbara Marx Hubbard

  War, Creativity, Media

  Barbara Marx Hubbard (2015). “Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential”, p.18, New World Library

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• The writing you allude to is a form of dissent, but it's also expressive of the need to evolve beyond what is turgid and stale in contemporary fiction.

  Rachel Cusk

  Writing, Contemporary Fiction, Needs

  "Go Forth (Vol. 34)". Interview with Alice Whitwham, logger.believermag.com. June 17, 2015.

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• The university is the last remaining platform for national dissent.

  Leon Eisenberg

  Education, Lasts, Platforms

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