Quotes from Paulo Freire

Dialogue is never an end in itself but a means to develop a better comprehension about the object of knowledge. Otherwise, one could end up with dialogue as conversation where individual lived experiences are given primacy.

Concern for humanization leads at once to the recognition of dehumanization, not only as an ontological possibility but as an historical reality.

Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in 'changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them'; for the more the oppressed can be led to adapt to that situation, the more easily they can be dominated.

In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform.

Gustavo Solivellas dice: "Aceptar y respetar la diferencia es una de esas virtudes sin las cuales la escucha no se puede dar" (Paulo Freire)

To say one thing and do another - to take one's own word lightly - cannot inspire trust. To glorify democracy and to silence the people is a farce; to discourse on humanism and negate man [sic] is a lie.

Daí a crítica permanentemente presente em mim à malvadez neoliberal, ao cinismo de sua ideologia fatalista e a sua recusa inflexível ao sonho e à utopia.

Daí que, à linguagem da possibilidade, que comporta a utopia como sonho possível, prefiram o discurso neoliberal, pragmático

Daí que seja doloroso observar que nem sempre o sectarismo de direita provoque o seu contrário, isto é, a radicalização do revolucionário. Não são raros os revolucionários que se tornam reacionários pela sectarização em que se deixam cair, ao responder à sectarização direitista.

Si nada queda de estas páginas, esperamos que por lo menos algo permanezca: nuestra confianza en el pueblo. Nuestra fe en los hombres y en la creación de un mundo en el que sea menos difícil amar.

When men [sic] avoid encounter they become inflexible and treat others as mere objects; instead of nurturing life they kill life; instead of searching for life, they flee from it. And these are oppressor characteristics.

Education is thus constantly remade in the praxis. In order to be it must become. Its "duration" (in the Bergsonian meaning of the word) is found in the interplay of opposites permanence and change.

Ou, aproveitando uma sugestão de Ortega, o processo em que a vida como biologia passa a ser vida como biografia.

Talvez seja este o sentido mais exato da alfabetização: aprender a escrever a sua vida como autor e como testemunha de sua história, isto é, biografar-se, existenciar-se, historicizar-se.

The revolution loves and creates life; and in order to create life it may be obliged to prevent some men from circumscribing life. In addition to the life-death cycle basic to nature, there is almost an unnatural living death: life which is denied its fullness.

Primeiro: o movimento interno que unifica os elementos do método e os excede em amplitude de humanismo pedagógico. Segundo: esse movimento reproduz e manifesta o processo histórico em que o homem se reconhece. Terceiro: os rumos possíveis desse processo são possíveis projetos e, por conseguinte, a conscientização não é apenas conhecimento ou reconhecimento, mas opção, decisão, compromisso.

ÖÄŸretmen öÄŸretmelidir. Bunu yapmak zorundad?r. Ama öÄŸretmek bilgiyi aktarmak deÄŸildir. Bir eyleme öÄŸretme eylemi denebilmesi için, öÄŸrenme eyleminin öÄŸrencilerin ayn? zamanda kendilerine öÄŸretilen bilgiyi üreten kiÅŸiler haline geldikleri, içeriÄŸi ya da bilinebilir nesneyi kavrama eyleminden önce ya da onunla eÅŸ zamanl? olarak gerçekleÅŸmesi gerekir.

Dialogue cannot exist without humility. The naming of the world, through which people constantly re-create that world, cannot be an act of arrogance....Men and women who lack humility (or have lost it) cannot come to the people, cannot be their partners in naming the world.

A consciência é essa misteriosa e contraditória capacidade que tem o homem de distanciar-se das coisas para fazê-las presentes, imediatamente presentes.

Consistent with the liberating purpose of dialogical education, the object of the investigation is not persons (as if they were anatomical fragments), but rather the thought-language with which men and women refer to reality, the levels at which they perceive that reality, and their view of the world, in which their generative themes are found.

The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders. The latter course, by preserving a state of alienation, hinders the emergence of consciousness and critical intervention in a total reality. And without this critical intervention, it is always difficult to achieve the unity of the oppressed as a class.

Similarly, animals lack the ability to exercise limit-acts, which require a decisive attitude towards the world: separation from and objectification of the world in order to transform it.

Es por esto que [la educación liberadora] reconoce [a las personas] como seres que están siendo, como seres inacabados, inconclusos en y con una realidad que siendo historia es también tan inacabada como ellos. [...] De [la inconclusión de las personas y la conciencia que de ella tienen] que sea la educación un quehacer permanente. Permanente en razón de la inconclusión de los seres humanos y del devenir de la realidad.

Only human beings are praxis--the praxis which, as the reflection and action which truly transform reality, is the source of knowledge and creation. Animal activity, which occurs without a praxis, is not creative; people's transforming activity is.