In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law … That would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his 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.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heroes by nature, and it is an obligation, I believe, for those who fear the consequences and detest the reality of the attempt to impose American hegemony.
—Noam Chomsky (b.1928) American Linguist, Social Critic
Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the Field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere—so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive—that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as I can, as is usual in such cases.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I
—Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) American Sportsperson
Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Think for yourself, question authority.
—Timothy Leary (1920–96) American Psychologist, Author
There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance. This distinction between an open violation of the law, performed in public, and a clandestine one is so glaringly obvious that it can be neglected only by prejudice or ill will.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.
—William Morris (1834–96) British Designer, Craftsman, Poet, Writer
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
The nail that stands out will be hammered down.
—Japanese Proverb
Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
—Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) Romanian-born American Writer, Professor, Political Activist
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
Prostitution and robbery are two living protests, respectively female and male, made by the natural state against the social state.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
Thus if the First Amendment means anything in this field, it must allow protests even against the moral code that the standard of the day sets for the community. In other words, literature should not be suppressed merely because it offends the moral code of the censor.
—William O. Douglas (1898–1980) American Judge
We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.
—Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928) British Suffragette Leader
The burning of rebellious thoughts in the little breast, of internal hatred and opposition, could not long go on without slight whiffs of external smoke, such as mark the course of subterranean fire.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
—Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American Socialist, Union Leader
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