Oppressed Quotes:

The ignorance of the oppressed is strength for the oppressor.

- A. R. Bernard

topic: Ignorance, Oppressed

The grave unites; where e'en the great find rest, And blended lie th' oppressor and th' oppressed!

- Alexander Pope

topic: Lying, Graves, Oppressed

The rage of the oppressed is never the same as the rage of the privileged.

- Bell Hooks

topic: Rage, Oppressed

The oppressed never free themselves - they do not have the necessary strengths.

- Clare Boothe Luce

topic: Oppressed

To throw oneself to the side of the oppressed is the only dignified thing to do in life.

- Edwin Markham

topic: Sides, Oneself, Oppressed

The oppressed want above all to imitate their oppressors; they want to retaliate.

- Eric Hoffer

topic: Want, Oppressed

The Catholics had been in the position of oppressors, and the Protestants of the oppressed

- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

topic: Catholic, Position, Oppressed

An oppressed people will always rise.

- Henning Mankell

topic: People, Oppressed

An oppressed people are authorized whenever they can to rise and break their fetters.

- Henry Clay

source: Henry Clay (1857). “The speeches of Henry Clay”, p.142

topic: People, Break, Oppressed, Fetters

Always remember that there is no conversion to God if there is no conversion to the oppressed.

- Ignacio Ellacuria

topic: Remember, Oppressed

Obviously the most oppressed of any oppressed group will be its women

- Lorraine Hansberry

topic: Groups, Oppressed

To be a Jew means always being with the oppressed and never the oppressors.

- Marek Edelman

topic: Mean, Jew, Oppressed

If you've ever felt oppressed on any level, there's something from 'The Wire' that you can take and identify with.

- Michael K. Williams

topic: Wire, Levels, Oppressed

For there is no sex. There is but sex that is oppressed and sex that oppresses. It is oppression that creates sex and not the contrary.

- Monique Wittig

source: Monique Wittig (1992). “The Straight Mind: And Other Essays”, Beacon Press (MA)

topic: Sex, Oppression, Oppressed

I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

- Nelson Mandela

topic: Taken, Humanity, Oppressed, Oppressors, Long Walk To Freedom

But nonviolence was never for the oppressor; it was for the oppressed.

- Nikki Giovanni

topic: Oppressed, Nonviolence, Oppressors

Never befriend the oppressed unless you are prepared to take on the oppressor.

- Ogden Nash

topic: Adversity, Prepared, Oppressed

The oppressed find in the oppressors their model of 'manhood.'

- Paulo Freire

topic: Models, Oppressed, Manhood

Men will often admit other women are oppressed but not you.

- Sheila Rowbotham

topic: Men, Feminist, Oppressed

Religion is against women's rights and women's freedom. In all societies women are oppressed by all religions.

- Taslima Nasrin

source: Interview with Kerry O'Brien on "Lateline", ABC TV, 1995.

topic: Atheist, Rights, Oppressed

The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and of the oppressed.

- Thomas Huxley

topic: Poor, Magna Carta, Oppressed

To forgive an oppressor is oppression upon the oppressed.

- Umar

topic: Forgiving, Oppression, Oppressed

The only thing worse than an oppressed liberal is the Rino Republican who sympathizes with them.

- Josh Bernstein

topic: Republican, Oppressed

Perhaps the greatest consolation of the oppressed is to consider themselves superior to their tyrants.

- Julien Green

topic: Tyrants, Consolation, Oppressed

It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their oppressors.

- Paulo Freire

source: Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.40, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

topic: Oppressed, Oppressors

Never elated when someone's oppressed, never dejected when another one's blessed.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Attitude, Blessed, Oppressed, Dejected

I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed.

- Colin Kaepernick

source: Source: ninerswire.usatoday.com

topic: People, Oppressed

The beginning of Canadian cultural nationalism was not 'Am I really that oppressed?' but 'Am I really that boring?'

- Margaret Atwood

source: Margaret Atwood (1990). “Margaret Atwood: Conversations”, Princeton, N.J. : Ontario Review Press

topic: Boring, Oppressed, Nationalism

I was oppressed with the sensations I then felt; I sunk under the weight of them.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1815). “The Sorrows of Werter: A Pathetic Story”, p.29

topic: Weight, Felt, Oppressed

I began to realise that we are all oppressed which is why I would like to do something about it, though I'm not sure where my place is.

- John Lennon

source: Source: www.counterpunch.org

topic: Not Sure, Realising, Oppressed

Revolutionary constituencies always involve a tacit alliance between the least alienated and the most oppressed.

- David Graeber

topic: Alliances, Revolutionary, Oppressed

You are either on the side of the oppressed or on the side of the oppressor. You can't be neutral.

- Desmond Tutu

source: "Desmond Tutu is one of a rare breed" by Cath Elliott, www.theguardian.com. September 17, 2010.

topic: Sides, Oppressed, Oppressors

God wants to set the oppressed free from being oppressed and the oppressors free from oppressing.

- Desmond Tutu

topic: Want, Oppressed, Oppressors

God is on the side of the oppressed.

- Desmond Tutu

source: Source: values.mountmadonnaschool.org

topic: Sides, Oppressed

All the persecutors declare against each other mortal war, while the philosopher, oppressed by them all, contents himself with pitying them.

- Voltaire

source: Voltaire (2016). “Voltaire – The Philosophical Works: Treatise On Tolerance, Philosophical Dictionary, Candide, Letters on England, Plato’s Dream, Dialogues, The Study of Nature, Ancient Faith and Fable, Zadig…: From the French writer, historian and philosopher, famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion and freedom of expression”, p.1604, e-artnow

topic: War, Philosopher, Oppressed

Take sides. Neutrality always serves the oppressor and never the oppressed.

- Elie Wiesel

topic: Neutrality, Sides, Oppressed, Oppressors

Our task is not to liberate the oppressed, but to liberate the oppressors

- Nelson Mandela

topic: Tasks, Oppressed, Oppressors

It is doubtful if the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power - power to oppress others. The oppressed want above all to imitate their oppressors; they want to retaliate.

- Eric Hoffer

source: "War and Conflict Quotations: A Worldwide Dictionary". Book by Jean Freestone Thomsett and Michael Thomsett, 1997.

topic: Want, Oppressed, Oppressors

It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors.

- Eric Hoffer

source: Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

topic: Shapes, Hated, Oppressed