best quotations about
Oppression |
| 35 quotes | Visits: 6,213 |
Quotations
 | To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 60 likes |
 | The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. — Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821-1881, Russian writer 43 likes |
 | There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 41 likes |
 | Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 31 likes |
 | The society of the future: slavery without masters. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 16 likes |
 | Looking at the world as a whole, the drift for many decades has been not towards anarchy but towards the reimposition of slavery. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 16 likes |
 | Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. — Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement 14 likes |
 | When feudalism was overthrown and “free” capitalist society appeared in the world, it became apparent that this freedom meant a new system of oppression and exploitation of the working people. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 12 likes |
 | Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 9 likes |
 | Oligarchs and tyrants mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 8 likes |
| It is true that liberty is precious — so precious that it must be rationed. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 8 likes |
 | You must be afraid, my son. That is how one becomes an honest citizen. — Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980, French philosopher 8 likes |
 | I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo. — Harry Truman, 1884-1972, American President [1945-1953] 7 likes |
 | To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right, nor the knowledge, nor the virtue. — Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1809-1865, French anarchist 7 likes |
| If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, for ever. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 5 likes |
 | For he that hath strength enough to protect all, wants not sufficiency to oppress all — Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, English philosopher 3 likes |
 | I have never been to the Right, nor have I been a Communist, because I have experienced, personally, both forms of totalitarianism. It is those who have never lived under tyranny who call me petit bourgeois. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 3 likes |
| Big Brother is Watching You. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 2 likes |
 | The fools of the world have been those who have established religions, ceremonies, laws, faith, rule of life. |
 | Oppression tries to defend itself by its utility. |
 | When you hear "order", human flesh smells. |
 | Most kings and priests have been despotic, and all religions have been riddled with superstition. |
 | The Kingdom of Heaven is a military autocracy and there is no public opinion in it. |
 | Any system was a straightjacket if you insisted on adhering to it so totally and humorlessly. |
 | Whatever needs to be maintained through force is doomed. |
 | When I was first in Czechoslovakia, it occurred to me that I work in a society where as a writer everything goes and nothing matters, while for the Czech writers I met in Prague, nothing goes and everything matters. |
 | To be a great autocrat you must be a great barbarian. |
 | The most useful idea for tyrants is the idea of God. |
 | Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny . |
 | One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. |
| Universal suffering in the end does not recognize any of the individual’s rights except the “right” to be alternately oppressor or oppressed. |
 | What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long. |
Latin Quotes
 | Thus always to tyrants! Sic semper tyrannis! — Motto of the state of Virginia (a rallying cry against abuse of power) 20 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | There's a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes. |
Movie Quotes
 | You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig. — from the film The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) 4 likes |
