83 result(s) for Civil Disobedience Quotes.
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves."
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
"If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law."
"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."
"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
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"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt."
"The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion."
"All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable."
"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right."
"I know that you are appointed to uphold the law, and so am I. But I will do so in the spirit of justice and then law will not fail."
"Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion."
"Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?"
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force."
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
"We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."
"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it."
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
"It is our moral responsibility to stand up, speak out, and take action against injustice and oppression, no matter how difficult or unpopular it may be."
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"I did not want to be a hypocrite, preaching one thing and practicing another. That's what I condemned about so many religious leaders. I was determined to be what I taught."
"The individual is higher and nobler than the State."
"The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property."
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine."
"A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law."
"Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty."
"The state never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength."
"We should be as good today as we pretended to be yesterday."
"History has taught us that it is often the minorities who are right and the majority who are wrong."
"If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself."
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
"It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support."
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"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."
"That government is best which governs least."
"The only warrant for obedience is that it protects the welfare of the community."
"There are things so right that they are crazy. Civil disobedience is a law that tells a higher truth."
"The individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing"
"The only warrant the government has for existence is that the untaxed life is not worth living."
"A man has not everything done for him, but does something for himself; and the more he does, the more he is a man."
"I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest."
"We should be men first, and subjects afterward."
"All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it."
"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."
"If one thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible."
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
"I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good."
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it."
"The individual is not obliged to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous, wrong; he may properly pursue other interests and leave it to the rest of mankind to fight the battle."
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
"Non-cooperation with evil is a duty; and cooperation with good is equally a duty."
"I know that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name,—if ten honest men only,—ay, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America."
"History has taught us that civil disobedience is a sacred right."
"Non-cooperation with evil is a duty; and collaboration with it is a crime."
"Disobedience to be civil must be sincere, respectful, restrained, never defiant, must be based upon some well-understood principle, must not be capricious and above all must have no ill-will or hate behind it."
"I am here to say that we are not going to cooperate any longer. We are going to disobey the laws that perpetuate segregation."
"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness."
"It is not our duty to be detectives detecting conspiracies, it is our duty to be rebels fighting them."
"The most unpardonable sin in society today is independence of thought."
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it."
"The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government."
"Revolution is not a one-time event."
"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth."
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
"I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone, even at the cost of your life."
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."
"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
"Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."
"The individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."
"We should never use violence. If we want to bring about peace in the world, we have to start with peace in our own lives."
"I did not want to be all my life a professional revolutionist. I wanted to do something else. But on the other hand, I do not see how I could have done anything else."
"When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law."
"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."
"I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good."
"A man has not everything that he may do, but he has everything that he may become."
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men."
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