64 Quotes Tagged: dissent

Hamas is regularly described as 'Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.' One will be hard put to find something like 'democratically elected Hamas, which has long been calling for a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus' — blocked for over 30 years by the US and Israel. All true, but not a useful contribution to the Party Line, hence dispensable.

Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.

Fools multiply when wise men are silent.

The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.

Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.” Jacob Bronowski in Science and Human Values

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

Any government's condemnation of terrorism is only credible if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent, reasonable, closely argued, non-violent dissent. And yet, what's happening is just the opposite. The world over, non-violent resistance movements are being crushed and broken. If we do not respect and honour them, by default we privilege those who turn to violent means.

The time is now proper for us to reform backward; more by dissenting than by agreeing; by differing more than by consent.

If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

[Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950]