Home / Quotes / Quote by Howard Zinn

Quote by Howard Zinn

“When a nation issues ultimatums, it leaves no room for compromise and ensures that war will continue.”

Quote by Howard Zinn

Book:Howard Zinn on War

Work

Howard Zinn on War

This book compiles a selection of works by Howard Zinn, a renowned historian, focusing on the historical and social implications of war. Zinn's perspective is characterized by its critical examination of the causes and consequences of conflicts, offering insights into the human experience during times of war. more

Author

American historian known for his critical analysis of historical events and advocacy for social justice. His work emphasizes the connection between history and contemporary social issues, particularly focusing on the role of ordinary people in the historical process. more

You May Also Like

“I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished.”

“When the Democrats are attacked for [inciting class warfare] they shrink back. They don't say what obviously should be said, "Yes, there is class warfare. There has always been class warfare in this country." The reason the Democrats shrink back is because the Democrats and the Republicans are on the same side of the class war. They have slightly different takes. The Democrats are part of the upper class that is more willing to make concessions to the lower class in order to maintain their power.”

Should Said Different War Country Reason Order Sides Class Willing Republican Democrat Warfare Shrinks Concessions Upper Class Class Warfare Lower Class

Author:Howard Zinn

“When in all the nations of the world the rule of law is the darling of the leaders and the plague of the people, we ought to begin to recognize this.”

People World Law Nations Leader Ought Plague Darling Rule Of Law

Book:Voices of a People's History of the United States

Source: Voices of a People's History of the United States

“It's a strange thing, we think that law brings order. Law doesn't. How do we know that law does not bring order? Look around us. We live under the rule of law. Notice how much order we have?”

Thinking Knows Looks Doe Law Order Strange Rule Of Law Strange Things

Book:Voices of a People's History of the United States

Source: Voices of a People's History of the United States

“Indeed, it is impossible to be neutral. In a world already moving in certain directions, where wealth and power are already distributed in certain ways, neutrality means accepting the way things are now. It is a world of clashing interests war against peace, nationalism against internationalism, equality against greed, and democracy against elitism and it seems to me both impossible and undesirable to be neutral in those conflicts.”

Source: Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice

“It had long been true, and prisoners knew this better than anyone, that the poorer you were the more likely you were to end up in jail. This was not just because the poor committed more crimes. In fact, they did. The rich did not have to commit crimes to get what they wanted; the laws were on their side. But when the rich did commit crimes, they often were not prosecuted, and if they were they could get out on bail, hire clever lawyers, get better treatment from judges. Somehow, the jails ended up full of poor black people.”

Source: A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present

“It must surely be a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit that even a small number of those men and women in the hell of the prison system survive it and hold on to their humanity.”

Men Humans Spirit Humanity Numbers Hell Men And Women Prison Resilience Human Spirit Tribute Small Numbers Prison System

Author:Howard Zinn

“Scholars, who pride themselves on speaking their minds, often engage in a form of self-censorship which is called "realism." To be "realistic" in dealing with a problem is to work only among the alternatives which the most powerful in society put forth. It is as if we are all confined to a, b, c, or d in the multiple choice test, when we know there is another possible answer. American society, although it has more freedom of expression than most societies in the world, thus sets limits beyond which respectable people are not supposed to think or speak.”

Source: The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy

“It's not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people. And furthermore, it's not going to help. Then you might say, "Yes, it's terrorizing people, but it's worth doing because it will end terrorism." But how much common sense does it take to know that you cannot end terrorism by indiscriminately dropping bombs?”

People Knows Doe Ends Helping Might Common Terrorism Common Sense Bombs Dropping Dropping Bombs

Book:Terrorism and War

Source: Terrorism and War

“I came to the conclusion that war was an unacceptable way of solving whatever problems there were in the world--that there would be problems of tyranny, of injustice, of nations crossing frontiers and that injustice and tyranny should not be tolerated and should be fought and resisted, but the one thing that must not be used to solve that problem is war. Because war is inevitably the indiscriminate killing of large numbers of people. And that fact overwhelms whatever moral cause is somewhere buried in the history of that war.”

Source: Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches 1963-2009