"Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if
the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do
you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not
oppress them."
Muhammad
"He is not strong and powerful who throweth people down; but he is strong who witholdeth himself from anger."
Muhammad
"We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing. With just a little witty skepticism we can kill a good deal of the future in a young person. Life is waiting everywhere, the future is flowering everywhere, but we only see a small part of it and step on much of it with our feet."
Hermann Hesse
German poet and novelist
"It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill
the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I
keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I
should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an
act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all
earthly kings. ... Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having
eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things, which so nearly
concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit
it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and
to provide for it. Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. ...
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others
may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Patrick Henry
(1736-1799)
US Founding Father
Told in his "The War Inevitable" speech to the Virginia Convention, Mar 23,
1775
"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Russian novelist, 1821-1881
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
: Abraham Lincoln: 16th U.S. president, 1809-1865
"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who loves his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."
H.L. Mencken
"For in every city these two opposite parties [people vs aristocracy] are to be
found, arising from the desire of the populace to avoid oppression of the
great, and the desire of the great to command and oppress the people....For
when the nobility see that they are unable to resist the people, they unite in
exalting one of their number and creating him prince, so as to be able to carry
out their own designs under the shadow of his authority."
Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch. IX
"Protest that endures...is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence."
Wendell Berry
"I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never
the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
- Elie Weisel
" Let’s consider another fatally destructive danger that no one will be able to stop: nuclear tests in the ocean. Nuclear energy contaminated the whole ocean and the animals living there. The sea inhales and exhales because it is a living body. When exhaling, it contaminates the oxygen that we breathe and all the vegetation. Changes in the human organism will occur and monstrous children will be born caused by this over-all contamination, alarming the whole world.”
~ V.M. Rabolu (1926-2000)
"Repression occurs whenever you are faced with trouble, whenever you want to express your feelings, or whenever you want to be in an open atmosphere. In Islamic countries, for example, women want to participate in sports and games, but they are prevented. In communist countries there are many people who want to criticize communism, but if they do they will be in trouble and sent to concentration camps. There are also places where people want to sing and dance freely, but if they do they will face difficulty and be punished. In Sam'skrta repression is called "avadamana"." ~ Shrii P. R. Sarkar
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing.
Those who count the votes decide everything."
Josef Stalin
(1879-1953) Communist leader of the USSR
"Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?"
Kahlil Gibran
