Quotes from Howard Zinn

The fact that war belongs to the past, does not mean it has to be part of the future.

War itself is the enemy of the human race.

In between war and passivity, there are a thousand possibilities.

Again and again, Americans have voted for a president to keep them out of a war, only to see the "peace" candidate elected who then brings the nation into war.

They didn't give their lives for their country! their lives were taken from them by their government.

It was an old lesson learned by governments: that war solves problems of control.

When a nation issues ultimatums, it leaves no room for compromise and ensures that war will continue.

When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.

So long as atrocities remain remote, abstract, they will be tolerated, even by decent people.

Americans have been taught that their nation is civilized and humane. But, too often, U.S. actions have been uncivilized and inhumane.

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.

If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That's how change happens.

I try to tell each group that it is not alone, and that the very people who are disheartened by the absence of a national movement are themselves proof of the potential for such a movement.

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.

War itself is the enemy of the human race.

One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.

When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.

They'll say we're disturbing the peace,but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

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

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.