Oppressed Quotes

• Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Interesting, Social Justice, Oppression

  37 Copy quote

• You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.

  Booker T. Washington

  Letting Go, Stay Strong, Men

  "The Great Quotations" edited by George Seldes, (p. 641), 1971.

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• To hold a people in oppression you have to convince them first that they are supposed to be oppressed.

  John Henrik Clarke

  People, Firsts, Oppression

  74 Copy quote

• A government which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.

  Nelson Mandela

  Teaching, Government, Use

  Nelson Mandela (1988). “The Historic Speech of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela at the Rivonia Trial: As Delivered from the Dock on April 20, 1964”

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• Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents, and then later on in our life when we are oppressed by sickness and become old, we are again dependent on the kindness of others. Since at the beginning and end of our lives we are so dependent on other's kindness, how can it be in the middle that we would neglect kindness towards others?

  Dalai Lama

  Kindness, Helping Others, Parent

  12 Copy quote

• Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.

  Simone Weil

  Peace, Giving, Doe

  12 Copy quote

• Serve humanity, regardless of religion. Show solidarity for those suffering and oppressed.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Humanity, Suffering, Solidarity

  5 Copy quote

• Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

  Frederick Douglass

  Peace, Patriotic, Ignorance

  Speech on the twenty-fourth anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia,Washington, D.C., Apr. 1886

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• In the long run even the most despotic governments with all their brutality and cruelty are no match for ideas. Eventually the ideology that has won the support of the majority will prevail and cut the ground from under the tyrant's feet. Then the oppressed many will rise in rebellion and overthrow their masters.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Running, Cutting, Government

  Ludwig von Mises (2016). “An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution: The Economist”, p.264, VM eBooks

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• In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit , but as a limiting situation which they can transform.

  Paulo Freire

  Struggle, Reality, Order

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.35, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• Libertarian action must recognize this dependence as a weak point and must attempt through reflection and action to transform it into independence. However, not even the best-intentioned leadership can bestow independence as a gift. The liberation of the oppressed is a liberation of women and men, not things. Accordingly, while no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others. Liberation, a human phenomenon, cannot be achieved by semihumans. Any attempt to treat people as semihumans only dehumanizes them.

  Paulo Freire

  Men, Reflection, People

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.47, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

  5 Copy quote

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• Men will often admit other women are oppressed but not you.

  Sheila Rowbotham

  Men, Feminist, Feminism

  4 Copy quote

• I have always felt it was a handicap for oppressed peoples to depend so largely upon a leader, because unfortunately in our culture, the charismatic leader usually becomes a leader because he has found a spot in the public limelight.

  Ella Baker

  Leader, Slavery, Culture

  142 Copy quote

• Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else.

  Malcolm X

  Freedom, Needs, Slavery

  "Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements". Book edited by George Breitman, 1965.

  13 Copy quote

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• Those who oppressed us described us as the Dark Continent!

  Thabo Mbeki

  Dark, Swag, Continents

  12 Copy quote

• That cry of the soul to be lifted out of the bondage of the narrow circle of life, which carries up to God the protest and yearning of suffering man, never finds a more sublime expression than where humanity is oppressed and religion is corrupt.

  Hall Caine

  Men, Expression, Circles

  Hall Caine (2016). “The Scapegoat”, p.6, The Floating Press

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• Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Power, Tyrants

  Speech, Canandaigua, N.Y., 4 Aug. 1857

  63 Copy quote

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• He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

  Thomas Paine

  Pain, Freedom, Fear

  Thomas Paine (2016). “THOMAS PAINE Ultimate Collection: Political Works, Philosophical Writings, Speeches, Letters & Biography (Including Common Sense, The Rights of Man & The Age of Reason): The American Crisis, The Constitution of 1795, Declaration of Rights, Agrarian Justice, The Republican Proclamation, Anti-Monarchal Essay, Letters to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington…”, p.1336, e-artnow

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• Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

  Karl Marx

  Religious, Atheist, Heart

  Karl Marx, Joseph O'Malley (1977). “Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy Of Right'”, p.131, CUP Archive

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• Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors.

  Evelyn Cunningham

  Feminist, Feminism, Groups

  42 Copy quote

• Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspiring, Beautiful, Hair

  Presidential Inaugural Address, 10 May 1994

  64 Copy quote

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• Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them.

  Simon Wiesenthal

  Happiness, Smile, Laughter

  37 Copy quote

• All oppression creates a state of war.

  Simone de Beauvoir

  War, Historical, Oppression

  Simone de Beauvoir (1953). “The second sex”, Vintage

  129 Copy quote

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• I believe that there will be ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think it will be based on the color of the skin.

  Malcolm X

  Believe, Thinking, Color

  244 Copy quote

• It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

  Lord Acton

  Freedom, Equality, Democracies Have

  Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.9, VM eBooks

  46 Copy quote

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