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Peasants Quotes

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Peasants Quotes

“Who knows better than a peasant farmer the agricultural conditions in his country or region? It is not always necessary to send an FAO expert to tell him what crops to grow or what seeds to use. Give him the seeds he asks for, and he will do the rest. Don't tell him how to renovate his irrigation system: give him the necessary equipment and he will do the job far better than us.”

KnowsGivingCountryUseJobsAsksGrowsConditionsSeedsExpertsRegionsFarmersEquipmentCropsPeasantsIrrigation
Author:Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
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“There has to be spiritual transformation among the masses, who have to be willing to recognize that their oppression is not a law of nature. That's what Latin American bishops were doing when they formed base communities. They were trying to get peasants to recognize that you can take your fate into your own hands. That's what the civil-rights movement did here. That's what the women's movement did.”

TryingHandsSpiritualLawCommunityFateRightsMovementWillingMassTransformationCivil RightsOppressionLatinLaws Of NaturePeasantsCivil Rights MovementBishopsLatin AmericaSpiritual TransformationLatin American
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms; colonization and decolonization a simply a question of relative strength.”

FirstsCountryTermLosesPayClassClearViolenceGainsCompromiseRevolutionaryRelativeStarvingPeasantsNothing To LoseColonizationNo CompromiseClass System
Book:Damnés de la terre
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“I did not set out to be beloved and just, only strong." 'A King can be better than that," the Prince insisted. "And so we all begin, determined to better our fathers' performances, knowing we can change the very nature of humanity, make it better, cleaner. But then daggers strike in the night, and peasants revolt, and all manner of atrocities become a necessity as breakfast. Only Princes believe in the greater good. Kings know there is only Reign, and all things may be committed in its holy name.”

KnowsBelieveMayNightHumanityFatherNamesStrongKnowingGreaterKingsHolyAll ThingsPerformancesCommittedDeterminedStrikesBelovedBreakfastReignOur FatherPeasantsRevoltAtrocitiesCleanersGreater GoodDaggersGood Kings
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“In the work of art the truth of an entity has set itself to work. ‘To set’ means here: to bring to a stand. Some particular entity, a pair of peasant shoes, comes in the work to stand in the light of its being. The being of the being comes into the steadiness of its shining. The nature of art would then be this: the truth of being setting itself to work.”

MeanArtLightParticularShiningShoesSettingSettingsPairsWorks Of ArtEntityPeasantsSteadiness
Author:Martin Heidegger
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“They wanted to carry her, but she jumped to the stones of the plaza and strode away from the building, toward her ranks, which parted to make way for her. The streets of Pudong were filled with hungry and terrified refugees, and through them, in simple peasant clothes streaked with the blood of herself and of others, broken shackles dangling from her wrists, followed by her generals and ministers, walked the barbarian Princess with her book and her sword.”

WayBookWantedSimpleBloodStreetsBuildingBrokenClothesStonesFilledHungryMinistersPrincessTerrifiedRefugeePeasantsWristsBarbariansShackles
Book:The Diamond Age
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“Exploration was for those with a measure of peasant blood, those with big thighs and thick ankles who could take punishment as they took bread and salt, on every inch of flesh and spirit.”

BigsSpiritBloodFleshPunishmentBreadExplorationThickInchesSaltPeasantsThighsAnkles
Book:The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Articles, Letters, Plays & Screenplays: From the author of The Great Gatsby, The Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night, The Beautiful and Damned, The Love of the Last Tycoon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many other notable works
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“On our earth, before writing was invented, before the printing press was invented, poetry flourished. That is why we know that poetry is like bread; it should be shared by all, by scholars and by peasants, by all our vast, incredible, extraordinary family of humanity.”

KnowsShouldWritingEarthHumanityPressesExtraordinaryIncrediblesBreadPoetry IsScholarPeasantsPrintingPrinting Press
Book:The essential Neruda: selected poems
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“A man's bookcase will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about him," my father had told me more than once. "A businessman has business books and a dream has novels and books of poetry. Most women like reading about love, and a true revolutionary will have books about the minutiae of overthrowing the oppressor. A person with no books is inconsequential in a modern setting, but a peasant that reads is a prince in waiting.”

KnowsMenNeedsPersonsBookDreamReadingFatherWaitingNovelModernSettingSettingsRevolutionaryBusinessmanPeasantsOppressorsInconsequentialMinutiaeBookcases
Author:Walter Mosley
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“The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water. Comma.”

ThinkingWantLooksWaterPoorClothesDressesSuitsRadicalPeasantsGoofiness
Book:Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
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“Those of us who write and study history are accustomed to its approximations and ambiguities. This is why we do not take literally the tenth-hand reports of frightened and illiterate peasants who claim to have seen miracles or to have had encounters with messiahs and prophets and redeemers who were, like them, mere humans. And this is also why we will never submit to dictation from those who display a fanatical belief in certainty and revelation.”

WritingHumansHandsBeliefStudyAtheismMiracleClaimsMereAtheistCertaintyProphetEncountersRevelationsReportsFrightenedDisplaySubmitAccustomedAmbiguityPeasantsMessiahIlliterateRedeemerApproximationDictation
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“Like any normal fifth grader, I preferred my villains to be evil and stay that way, to act like Dracula rather than Frankenstein's monster, who ruined everything by handing that peasant girl a flower. He sort of made up for it by drowning her a few minutes later, but, still, you couldn't look at him the same way again.”

WayLooksMadeStillsGirlEvilMinutesFlowerNormalMonstersVillainRuinedFifthDrowningPeasantsFrankenstein's MonsterFifth Graders
Author:David Sedaris
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“Every teenager in the world feels like that, feels broken or out of place, different somehow, royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants. The difference in your case is that it's true.”

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Book:Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (3 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass
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“Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. Amore or Pyar makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for second eyes of man and woman meets.”

IfsMenHeartCountryBodyEyeGirlWalksPoetMusic IsMen And WomenVicesCornersSingersEvery ManIndianDancerShopsPrincessAsiaPeasantsShantaramVice Versa
Author:Gregory David Roberts
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“Were I to go down into the market-place, armed with the powers of witchcraft, and take a peasant by the shoulders and whisper to him, 'In your lifetime, have you known peace?' wait for his answer, shake his shoulders and transform him into his father, and ask him the same question, and transform him in his turn to his father, I would never hear the word 'Yes,' if I carried my questioning of the dead back for a thousand years. I would always hear, 'No, there was fear, there were our enemies without, our rulers within, there was prison, there was torture, there was violent death.”

IfsYearsTurnsAsksFatherWaitingAnswersKnownEnemyThousandPrisonLifetimeViolentShouldersTortureShakesQuestioningRulersThousand YearsPeasantsWitchcraftViolent Death
Book:Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia
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“It will be hard James but you come from sturdy peasant stock men who picked cotton and dammed rivers and built railroads and in the teeth of the most terrifying odds achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity You come from a long line of great poets some of the greatest poets since Homer. One of them said "The very time I thought I was lost My dungeon shook and my chains fell off." You know and I know that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon. We cannot be free until they are free. God bless you James and Godspeed.”

KnowsMenYearsLongSaidCountryHardLostLinesPoetHundredBuiltRiversDignityTeethCelebrateChainsBlessOddsPeasantsGod BlessCottonRailroadsDungeonsGreat PoetSturdyLong LinesGod Bless You
Author:James A. Baldwin
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“There was movement along the fringe of Chauncey's vision, and he snapped his head to the left. At first glance what appeared to be a large angel topping a nearby monument rose to full height. Neither stone nor marble, the boy had arms and legs. His torso was naked, his feet were bare, and peasant trousers hung low on his waist. He hopped down from the monument, the ends of his hair dripping rain. It slid down his face, which was dark as a Spaniard's.”

FirstsEndsFacesLeftDarkVisionBoysFeetMovementHairArmsLowsAngelRainStonesRoseLegsNakedHeightHungGlancesMonumentFringePeasantsMarbleTrousersDrippingArms And LegsToppingsSpaniardsTorso
Book:Hush, Hush
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