The Best Howard Zinn quotes

The principle is not that a human being cannot justly own another, but that he cannot own him unless he is loyal to the United States. — Howard Zinn

War itself is the enemy of the human race. — Howard Zinn

We need to assert our allegiance to the human race, and not to any one nation. — Howard Zinn

That’s generally true of people who drop bombs from high altitudes. You don’t know what’s going on below. You don’t see the human consequences of what you’re doing. — Howard Zinn

The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. — Howard Zinn

When the United States fought in Vietnam, it was organized modern technology versus organized human beings, and the human beings won. — Howard Zinn

It must surely be a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit that even a small number of those men and women in the hell of the prison system survive it and hold on to their humanity. — Howard Zinn

How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism? — Howard Zinn

Since war itself is the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self–contradictory. — Howard Zinn

War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times. — Howard Zinn

I do take the threat of terrorism seriously. You cannot eliminate that threat or diminish that threat by bombing a country. — Howard Zinn

Terrorism and war have something in common. They both involve the killing of innocent people to achieve what the killers believe is a good end. — Howard Zinn

War is terrorism … Terrorism is the willingness to kill large numbers of people for some presumably good cause. That’s what terrorists are about. — Howard Zinn

If you don’t know history, it is as if you were born yesterday. — Howard Zinn

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. — Howard Zinn

There is an underside to every age about which history does not often speak because history is written from records left by the privileged. — Howard Zinn

I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you you must go to war for this or that reason–that history is a protective armor against being misled. — Howard Zinn

I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitude towards history, history itself as a political act, has always informed my writing and my teaching. — Howard Zinn

The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of struggle. If there is no struggle there is no progress. — Howard Zinn

Civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience democracy does not exist. — Howard Zinn

Will Iraq be a democracy? The question is, ‘Will America be a democracy?’ — Howard Zinn

Democracy depends on people speaking out, and in times of great crisis, on people creating a commotion. — Howard Zinn

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. — Howard Zinn

They were not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, they were absent in the Constitution and they were invisible in the new political democracy. They were the women of early America. — Howard Zinn

Perhaps the most important thing I learned was about democracy, that democracy is not our government, our constitution, our legal structure. Too often they are enemies of democracy. — Howard Zinn

Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens. — Howard Zinn

The problem in this world is not civil disobedience…th e problem in this world is civil obedience. — Howard Zinn

Yes, we’re dreamers. We want it all. We want a peaceful world. We want an egalitarian world. We don’t want war. We don’t want capitalism. We want a decent society. — Howard Zinn

Education becomes most rich and alive when it confronts the reality of moral conflict in the world. — Howard Zinn

And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners. — Howard Zinn

George Orwell said, ‘Whoever controls the past controls the future,’ by which he meant that history is incredibly important in shaping the world view of the next generation of people. — Howard Zinn

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. — Howard Zinn

I wonder how the foreign policies of the United States would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own. — Howard Zinn

When in all the nations of the world the rule of law is the darling of the leaders and the plague of the people, we ought to begin to recognize this. — Howard Zinn

We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. — Howard Zinn

But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power. — Howard Zinn

When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress. — Howard Zinn

The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured. — Howard Zinn

The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth. — Howard Zinn

The strike, the boycott, the refusal to serve, the ability to paralyze the functioning of a complex social structure–these remain potent weapons against the most fearsome state or corporate power. — Howard Zinn

Why do we have to be a military superpower? Why can’t we be a humanitarian superpower? — Howard Zinn

The cry of the poor is is not always just, but if you don’t listen to it, you will never know what justice is. — Howard Zinn

I always emphasize the historic role of people of color in organizing and protesting to achieve justice. — Howard Zinn

If you join a fight for social justice you may win or lose, but just by being part of the struggle, you win, and your life will be better for it. — Howard Zinn

What motivates me is the desire to bring up a whole new generation of active citizens who believe in peace and social justice and will work for it. — Howard Zinn

People who have no respect for human life or for freedom or justice have taken over this beautiful country of ours. It will be up to the American people to take it back. — Howard Zinn