Paulo Freire Quotes

For cultural invasion to succeed, it is essential that those invaded become convinced of their intrinsic inferiority.

Knowing, whatever its level, is not the act by which a subject transformed into an object docilely and passively accepts the contents others give or impose on him or her. Knowledge, on the contrary, necessitates the curious presence of subjects confronted with the world. It requires their transforming action on reality. It demands a constant searching. It implies invention and reinvention. It claims from each person a reflection on the very act of knowing.

While no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others.

The more educators and the people investigate the people's thinking, and are thus jointly educated, the more they continue to investigate.

Only in the encounter of the people with the revolutionary leaders—in their communion, in their praxis—can this theory be built.

The basic thing, starting from the initial perception of these nuclei of contradictions (which include the principal contradiction of society as a larger epochal unit) is to study the inhabitants' awareness of these contradictions.

The oppressor, who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, is unable to lead this struggle.

In a dynamic, rather than static, view of revolution, there is no absolute 'before' or 'after,' with the taking of power as the dividing line.

It is necessary to trust in the oppressed and in their ability to reason.

The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.

In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.

The revolutionary's role is to liberate, and to be liberated, with the people—not to win them over.

Integration with one's context, as distinguished from adaptation, is a distinctively human activity. Integration results from the capacity to adapt oneself to reality plus the critical capacity to make choices and to transform that reality. To the extent that man loses his ability to make choices and is subjected to the choices of others, to the extent that his decisions are no longer his own because they result from external prescriptions, he is no longer integrated. Rather, he has adapted. He has "adjusted." Unpliant men, with a revolutionary spirit, are often termed "maladjusted."

It is accomplished by the oppressors depositing myths indispensable to the preservation of the status quo.

Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation.