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Paulo Freire Quotes

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Famous Paulo Freire Quotes

“A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those who read and study; as subjects of the action, they must seek to employ appropriate instruments in order to carry out the task. For this very reason, reading and studying form a challenging task, one requiring patience and perseverance.”

NeedsDoeReasonActionFormOrderReadingChallengesLearningStudySubjectsReaderTasksInstrumentsPerseveranceAppropriateComprehensionSnapsForgedPatience And Perseverance
Book:Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those who Dare Teach
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“The object of a dialogical-liberterian action is not to 'dislodge' the oppressed from a mythological reality in order to 'bind' them to another reality. On the contrary, the object of dialogical action is to make it possible for the oppressed, by perceiving their adhesion, to opt to transform an unjust reality." "In order for the oppressed to unite they must first cut the umbilical cord of magic and myth which binds them to the world of oppression; the unity which links them to each other must be of a different nature.”

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Author:Paulo Freire
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“Libertarian action must recognize this dependence as a weak point and must attempt through reflection and action to transform it into independence. However, not even the best-intentioned leadership can bestow independence as a gift. The liberation of the oppressed is a liberation of women and men, not things. Accordingly, while no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others. Liberation, a human phenomenon, cannot be achieved by semihumans. Any attempt to treat people as semihumans only dehumanizes them.”

PeopleMenHumansActionEffortReflectionMen And WomenWeakTreatsIndependenceLibertarianLiberationPhenomenonOppressedDependenceLiberatedWeak Points
Book:Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
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“One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.”

PeopleWorldActionPoliticalResultsViewsFailingParticularProgramIntentionEducationalInvasionGood IntentionsPedagogyPolitical ActionPositive ResultsPedagogy Of The Oppressed
Book:Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
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“An unauthentic word, one which is unable to transform reality, results when dichotomy is imposed upon its constitutive elements. When a word is deprived of its dimension of action, reflection automatically suffers as well; and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and alienating “blah.” It becomes an empty word, one which cannot denounce the world, for denunciation is impossible without a commitment to transform, and there is no transformation without action.”

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Author:Paulo Freire
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“Human existence cannot be silent, nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which people transform the world. To exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. People are not built in silence, but in word, in work, in action-reflection.”

PeopleWorldHumansProblemActionValuesTurnsNamesExistenceSilenceMoralReflectionEthicsBuiltSilentHuman ExistenceTrue Words
Author:Paulo Freire
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“Teachers and students (leadership and people), co-intent on reality, are both Subjects, not only in the task of unveiling that reality, and thereby coming to know it critically, but in the task of re-creating that knowledge. As they attain this knowledge of reality through common reflection and action, they discover themselves as its permanent re-creators.”

PeopleKnowsRealityActionCommonTeacherSubjectsStudentsCreatingReflectionTasksCreatorPermanentTeacher And StudentUnveiling
Book:Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
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“Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible.”

IfsThinkingWorldDoeRealityActionTeacherImpossibleStudentsCommunicationConcernedIsolationTowersIvoryPedagogyTeacher StudentSubordinationIvory Tower
Book:Pioneers in Education: Essays in Honor of Paulo Freire
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“The behavior and reactions of the oppressed, which lead the oppressor to practice cultural invasion, should evoke from the revolutionary a different theory of action. What distinguishes revolutionary leaders from the dominant elite is not only their objectives, but their procedures.”

ShouldDifferentActionLeaderPracticeTheoryBehaviorReactionsObjectivesRevolutionaryElitesDominantOppressedInvasionProceduresEvokeOppressorsRevolutionary Leaders
Book:Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
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“If I am a pure product of genetic, cultural, or class determination, I have no responsibility for my action in the world and, therefore, it is not possible for me to speak of ethics. Of course, this assumption of responsibility does not mean that we are not conditioned genetically, culturally, and socially. It means that we know ourselves to be conditioned but not determined.”

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Book:Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage
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