Extremism Quotes

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  Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

  Barry Goldwater

  Memorial Day, Freedom, Gay

  Speech accepting nomination for president at Republican National Convention, San Francisco, Cal., 16 July 1964

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• What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.

  Robert Kennedy

  Overcoming Evil, Political, Atheism

  Robert F. Kennedy (1967). “The quotable Robert F. Kennedy”

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• Extremism is so easy. You've got your position, and that's it. It doesn't take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.

  Clint Eastwood

  Idiot, Easy, Enough

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• When people are oppressed, and human rights are denied - particularly along sectarian lines or ethnic lines - when dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism, it creates an environment that is ripe for terrorists to exploit. When peaceful, democratic change is impossible, it feeds into the terrorist propaganda that violence is the only answer available.

  Barack Obama

  Change, Rights, People

  Barack Obama's remarks at the Summit on Countering Violent Extremism at the State Department in Washington, D.C., obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. February 19, 2015.

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• Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.

  John W. Gardner

  Ignorance, Simple, Two

  "A Nation Is Never Finished". ABA Journal, Volume 53, page 1011, November 1967.

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• Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Political, Disputes, Extremes

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• Nationalism and extremism ... are spreading today like a cancerous growth in the fabric of people's national self-awareness.

  Raisa Gorbacheva

  Self, People, Growth

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• I always think extremism is basically a reaction out of fear. What we seem to be experiencing is polar extremism that keeps people from coming together.

  David Hyde Pierce

  Thinking, People, Together

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Political dictatorship and social hopelessness create the desperation that fuels religious extremism.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Religious, Political, Religion

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• Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

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• Extremism in defense of Liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

  Barry Goldwater

  Liberty, Vices, Defense

  "The Worst Acceptance Speech?". "Political Junkie" with Ken Rudin, www.npr.org. September 9, 2004.

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• Extremists think 'communication' means agreeing with them.

  Leo Rosten

  Communication, Mean, Thinking

  "Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time". Book compiled by Laurence J. Peter, p. 100, 1979.

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• You're living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution
  A time where there's got to be a change. People in power have misused it
  And now there has to be a change and a better world has to be built
  And the only way is going to be built is with extreme methods
  And I for one will join with anyone, don't care what color you are
  As long as you want change this miserable condition that exists on this earth

  Malcolm X

  Color, Long, People

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• In every community there are little knots of fantastic extremists who loudly proclaim that they are striving for righteousness, and who, in reality, do their feeble best for unrighteousness. Just as the upright politician should hold in peculiar scorn the man who makes the name of politician a reproach and a shame, so the genuine reformer should realize that the cause he champions is especially jeopardized by the mock reformer who does what he can to make reform a laughingstock among decent men.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Reality, Men, Names

  Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses”, p.22, Courier Corporation

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• A people inspired by democracy, human rights and economic opportunity will turn their back decisively against extremism.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Opportunity, Rights, People

  "A Conversation with Benazir Bhutto". Interview with Richard N. Haass, www.cfr.org. August 15, 2007.

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• We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.

  Barack Obama

  War, People, Islam

  Barack Obama's Remarks in Closing of the Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. February 18, 2015.

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• It's not mere extremism that makes folks at the fringes so troubling; it's extremism wedded to false beliefs. Humans have long been dupes, easily gulled by rumors and flat-out lies.

  Jeffrey Kluger

  Lying, Long, Rumor

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• Perhaps...the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Creative, Needs, Political Extremism

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1964). “Why we can't wait”, Signet

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• Balance, that's the secret. Moderate extremism. The best of both worlds.

  Edward Abbey

  Secret, Balance, World

  Edward Abbey (1988). “Desert Solitaire”, p.233, University of Arizona Press

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• We strive towards a better world, but one can never do it without compromise. We can all change the world for the better, starting in your own little surroundings, together with people who believe in it, too. This way you can make it work and show others that it actually can work. That doesn't mean that everybody has to do it like you "or else..." If there is no compromise possible, then it turns into extremism, and I don't think that extremism ever added something positive to the world.

  G.W. Sok

  Believe, Mean, Thinking

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• We have not confronted forcefully enough the intolerance, sectarianism, and hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in too many parts of the globe.

  Barack Obama

  Hopelessness, Enough, Violent

  Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. September 24, 2014.

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• Faith minus vulnerability and mystery equals extremism. If you've got all the answers, then don't call what you do 'faith.'

  Brené Brown

  Answers, Mystery, Minus

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• If we want our civilization to survive, we have to watch for the extremes. We have to reclaim our morality, both individually and as the society. To protect ourselves from extremisms, we have to maintain moderation.

  Ali Sina

  Civilization, Watches, Want

  Source: myislam.dk

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• I cannot determine what people or nations should do, but I do think that extremism gives birth to following and subsequent extremism.

  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

  Thinking, People, Giving

  "We Love The People of the United States : Ahmadinejad". "Piers Morgan Tonight", worldobserveronline.com. September 27, 2012.

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• The greatest threat to extremism isn't drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Girl, Book, Reading

  "What’s So Scary About Smart Girls?" by Nicholas Kristof, www.nytimes.com. May 10, 2014.

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