“Tyranny is Tyranny, let it come from whom it may.”
Howard Zinn“If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.”
Howard Zinn“In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.”
Howard Zinn“One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.”
Howard Zinn“We will not know unless we begin.”
Howard Zinn“The essential ingredients of these struggles for justice are human beings who, if only for a moment, if only while beset with fears, step out of line and do "something", however small. And even the smallest, most unheroic of acts adds to the store of kindling that may be ignited by some surprising circumstance into tumultuous change.”
Howard Zinn“They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.”
Howard Zinn“So long as atrocities remain remote, abstract, they will be tolerated, even by decent people.”
Howard Zinn“There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States.”
Howard Zinn“Emma Willard told the legislature that the education of women "has been too exclusively directed to fit them for displaying to advantage the charms of youth and beauty" The problem, she said, was that "the taste of men, whatever it might happen to be, has made into a standard for the formation of the female character." Reason and religion teach us, she said, that "we too are primary existences...not the satellites of men.”
Howard Zinn“History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it.”
Howard Zinn