Quotessence
Home / Authors / Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn Quotes

Historian

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleWarIfsWorldWayGovernmentCountryThinkingHumansJusticeStatesShouldHas BeensPoliticalDemocracyImportantUnitedMeanUnited StatesKnows

Famous Howard Zinn Quotes

“Sometimes the difference between two candidates is an important one in the immediate sense, and then I believe trying to get somebody into office, who is a little better, who is less dangerous, is understandable. But never forgetting that no matter who gets into office, the crucial question is not who is in office, but what kind of social movement do you have. Because if you have a powerful social movement, it doesn't matter who is in office.”

IfsTryingBelieveKindLittlesTwoImportantSometimesMatterI BelieveSocialDifferencesForgetPowerfulDangerousMovementOfficeCandidatesNever ForgetCrucialSocial Movements
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“Richard Nixon was not the lesser evil, he was the greater evil, but in his administration the war was finally brought to an end, because he had to deal with the power of the anti-war movement as well as the power of the Vietnamese movement. I will vote, but always with a caution that voting is not crucial, and organizing is the important thing.”

WellsImportantWarEndsEvilDealsGreaterMovementVoteImportant ThingsAdministrationVotingCrucialAnti WarCautionVietnameseLesser EvilAnti War Movement
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“No doubt that anarchist ideas are frightening to those in power. People in power can tolerate liberal ideas. They can tolerate ideas that call for reforms, but they cannot tolerate the idea that there will be no state, no central authority. So it is very important for them to ridicule the idea of anarchism to create this impression of anarchism as violent and chaotic. It is useful for them.”

PeopleImportantIdeasStatesDoubtAuthorityViolentImpressionReformNo DoubtFrighteningTolerateRidiculeAnarchismAnarchistChaotic
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“The idea of direct action against the evil that you want to overcome is a kind of common denominator for anarchist ideas and anarchist movements. I think one of the most important principles of anarchism is that you cannot separate means and ends. Anarchism requires means and ends to be in line with one another. I think this is in fact one of the distinguishing characteristics of anarchism.”

ThinkingWantKindMeanImportantIdeasEndsFactsActionEvilLinesCommonPrinciplesMovementDirectOvercomingCharacteristicsAnarchismAnarchistCommon DenominatorDirect Action
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“The function of traditional history is to create a citizenry that looks to the top - the president, Congress, the Supreme Court - to make the important decisions. That's what traditional history is all about: the laws that were passed, the decisions made by the court. So much of history is built around "the great men." All of that is very anti-democratic.”

MenLooksMadeImportantLawPresidentDecisionBuiltFunctionCourtDemocraticCongressSupremeTraditionalGreat MenSupreme CourtCitizenryDecisions MadeImportant Decisions
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“Beyond the futility of armed force, and ultimately more important, is the fact that war in our time inevitably results in the indiscriminate killing of large numbers of people. To put it more bluntly, war is terrorism. That is why a 'war on terrorism' is a contradiction in terms.”

PeopleImportantWarFactsForceTermResultsNumbersKillingTerrorismOur TimeContradictionFutilityLarge NumbersWar On TerrorArmed ForcesWar On Terrorism
Book:A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Create image

“Here's a president who gets 47 or 48 percent of the vote and takes 100 percent of the power, as if he had a mandate. He snuck into the presidency with the aid of political cronies, his father's having appointed members of the Supreme Court, his brother governor of Florida. And then he takes total control. And this is a president who seems to react to everything with force. Now we've had two wars. We've killed a lot of people. For anybody who is interested in not being a warlike nation anymore, and becoming a nation respected in the world, it becomes important to defeat Bush.”

PeopleWorldImportantWarPoliticalPresidentBrotherVoteDefeatAidsSupreme Court
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“The problem of giving health care to everybody cannot be solved so long as we're spending huge sums of money for war. Already we have a very wasteful healthcare system, the most wasteful healthcare system in the world. I mean, we spend the most money and still have 40 million people without insurance. Compare us to Cuba. Cuba is our enemy, run by a dictator, Fidel Castro. But people in Cuba get health care at least equal to that of the United States - with very scarce resources. So I think this issue is the most important domestic issue.”

PeopleThinkingWorldGivingMeanLongImportantWarProblemCareRunningEnemyEqualHealth CareCompareHealthcareDictatorCastro
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image

“We've never had our injustices rectified from the top, from the president or Congress, or the Supreme Court, no matter what we learned in junior high school about how we have three branches of government, and we have checks and balances, and what a lovely system. No. The changes, important changes that we've had in history, have not come from those three branches of government. They have reacted to social movements.”

ImportantMatterGovernmentSchoolThreeSocialPresidentMovementBalanceHigh SchoolNo Matter WhatCourtInjusticeCongressLovelySupremeChecksBranchesSupreme CourtJuniorsJunior HighSocial MovementsBranches Of GovernmentHigh School JuniorThree Branches Of Government
Author:Howard Zinn
Create image