Quotes About Dissent

Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.

If you don't hire originals, you run the risk of people disagreeing but not voicing their dissent.

Anarchists believe we can run our lives without the government.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.

But the disposition to disagree, to reject and to dissent - however irritating it may be when taken to extremes - is the very lifeblood of an open society. We need people who make a virtue of opposing mainstream opinion. A democracy of permanent consensus will not long remain a democracy.

In both countries the ruling parties—Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary—have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption, and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future.

Let your dissent fuel you, your anger inspire you, your rage convey you, and your fury strike a chilling fear onto the spines of your enemies.

Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.

All great art is a form of complaint

I tell myself I use art to promote dissent, but maybe I am just using dissent to promote my art. I plead not guilty to selling out. But I plead it from a bigger house than I used to live in.

antiwar pacifists.

people sometimes use teamwork as an excuse for suppressing dissenting opinions.

There's no real samizdat in the U.S. per se, First Amendment-wise, I don't think. I suppose ultra-radical Quebecois and Albertan stuff could be considered O.N.A.N.ite samizdat.

Truth will only make you unpopular.

America is at that awkward stage; it's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.

Your book, ' The Tyranny of God ,' is well done. It is a very clear statement of the question, bold and true beyond dispute. I am glad that you wrote it. It is as plain as the multiplication table, which doesn't mean that everyone will believe it. I thank you for writing it. I wish I were the author. { Preface to 'The Tyranny of God by Joseph Lewis }

True poetry ought to be secret and clandestine, concealed like a prohibited voice of dissent, while at the same time it should speak to everyone.

Finally, someone has to make a start. We only said and wrote what many people think. They just don't dare to express it. —SOPHIE SCHOLL AT THE WHITE ROSE TRIAL IN MUNICH, QUOTED BY RICHARD HANSER IN DEUTSCHLAND ZULIEBE (FOR THE SAKE OF GERMANY), P. 15

there was no room for dissent when it came to his beliefs, which were presented as mathematical laws. To question any of these principles resulted in disproportionate anger. Pushing back after that prompted a stubborn silence, his final and irrefutable argument. Partly because, over time, his reaction had gotten to be more exhausting than threatening, partly because it was an easy and entertaining form of rebellion, provoking him became my main sport for a

Opinions are announced in open court immediately before the start of the day's arguments. The justice who has written the majority opinion delivers a brief summary. A dissenting justice who feels particularly strongly might follow with a summary of the dissent. The statements that justices make from the bench are not part of the official opinion, but the few points that a justice might choose to emphasize from a long opinion can be illuminating for those present.

Please tell me you're not listening to that Shriver woman. She's a hysteric. And so annoyingly smug, as if she wants civilization to collapse, just so she can be proved right. I can't bear the sound of her voice.

I'd agree with you, except that agreeing with you probably means I'm on the wrong side of the argument." "-Cam Rohan

Comedy as dissent or any art form as dissent is going to be our last safety valve.