Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinnwas an American historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than twenty books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People′s History of the United States...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth24 August 1922
CountryUnited States of America
Howard Zinn quotes about
speaks-out together-we-can government
When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.
party reality two
The pretense in disputed elections is that the great conflict is between the two major parties. The reality is that there is a much bigger conflict that the two parties jointly wage against large numbers of Americans who are represented by neither party and against powerless millions around the world." (p. 65)
direct-action government asking
Strike is always a form of direct action. With the strike, too, you are not asking government to make things easier for you by passing legislation, you are taking a direct action against the employer.
peace war slavery
Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.
peace real people
If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That's how change happens.
direct-action voting democracy
Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.
party believe evil
I believe that it is preferable sometimes to have one candidate rather another candidate, while you understand that that is not the solution. Sometimes the lesser evil is not so lesser, so you want to ignore that, and you either do not vote or vote for third party as a protest against the party system.
kindness future sacrifice
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
patriotism mob-rule form
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
peace war expression
One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.
position-of-power yesterday important
History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it.
party organization people
If you work through the existing structures you are going to be corrupted. By working through political system that poisons the atmosphere, even the progressive organizations, you can see it even nowadays in the US, where people on the "Left" are all caught in the electoral campaign and get into fierce arguments about should we support this third party candidate or that third party candidate. This is a sort of little piece of evidence that suggests that when you get into working through electoral politics you begin to corrupt your ideals.
peace war compassion
Should we not begin to redefine patriotism? We need to expand it beyond that narrow nationalism which has caused so much death and suffering. If national boundaries should not be obstacles to trade-we call it globalization-should they also not be obstacles to compassion and generosity?
steps burning sometimes
Sometimes it's a short step from banning to burning.