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Totalitarianism Quotes

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Totalitarianism Quotes

“My family has been deeply affected by the split of Korea, which divided it in half, basically, before I was born. There's no way to connect with my family now who are in North Korea because it's so isolated. We don't even know who is still there and who is alive, and if they are, what they are doing. Comedy is the only weapon I have to battle this totalitarianism.”

IfsKnowsWayHas BeensStillsBornHalfComedyAliveBattleWeaponsMy FamilyAffectedDividedIsolatedSplitsKoreaTotalitarianismNorth Korea
Author:Margaret Cho
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“The State certainly played a decisive role. I also believe that it may have stemmed from the rivalry itself. Grow or die, devour or die. That's the one problem that I have to wrestle with. I have to wrestle with whether or not rivalry in the free market does not ultimately lead to concentration, corporatism, and finally totalitarianism.”

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Author:Murray Bookchin
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“Men create their own gods and thus have some slight understanding that they are self-fabricated. Women are much more susceptible, because they are completely oppressed by men; they take men at their word and believe in the gods that men have made up. The situation of women, their culture, makes them kneel more often before the gods that have been created by men than men themselves do, who know what they've done. To this extent, women will be more fanatical, whether it is for fascism or for totalitarianism.”

KnowsMenBelieveHas BeensMadeSelfDoneCultureUnderstandingSituationFascismOppressedTotalitarianismSusceptible
Author:Simone de Beauvoir
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“There is a good deal of art that in some traditions of conceptual work are anti-affect, in fact a very large chunk of mainstream art after 1950 took against affect art altogether because they said, "No, we hate affect art because this is how we get manipulated by totalitarianism and therefore artists shouldn't play that game." And a lot of artists agreed to play that game, which I personally believe is to the loss of art.”

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Author:Laura Belem
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“The strongest argument against totalitarianism may be a recognition of a universal human nature; that all humans have innate desires for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The doctrine of the blank slate... is a totalitarian's dream.”

HumansMayDreamDesireLibertyHuman NatureArgumentUniversalPursuitDoctrineRecognitionStrongestBlankInnatePursuit Of HappinessTotalitarianismSlateLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of HappinessBlank Slates
Author:Steven Pinker
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“You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order --or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path.”

MenDreamAgeOrderIndividualLeftFreedomPathSacrificeSecurityHumanitarianMotiveConsistentSincerityMaximumAntsTotalitarianismIndividual Freedom
Author:Ronald Reagan
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“It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods. Freedom can only be won by men unconditionally committed to the principles of freedom. The first requisite for a better social order is the return to unrestricted freedom of thought and speech.”

MenFirstsOrderFightingSocialPrinciplesReturnSpeechMethodCommittedVainTotalitarianismFreedom Of ThoughtAdoptingSocial Order
Book:Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War
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“Pure, hard-core liberals believe in a superior race. They think they're it. They believe they're more intelligent than the general run of mankind, better suited than the little people are to manage the little people's lives. They think they have the one true vision, the ability to solve all the moral dilemmas of the century. They prefer big government because that is the first step to totalitarianism, toward unquestioned rule by the elite. And of course they see themselves as the elite.”

PeopleThinkingFirstsBelieveLittlesHardBigsGovernmentRunningCoursesAbilityRaceLibertyMoralVisionStepsMankindCenturyPureIntelligentSolveCoreSuperiorsManageElitesFirst StepsTotalitarianismDilemmaBig GovernmentHard CoreMoral DilemmaTrue Vision
Author:Dean Koontz
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“Ultimately, totalitarianism is the only sort of politics that can truly serve the sky-god's purpose. Any movement of a liberal nature endangers his authority and that of his delegates on earth. One God, one King, one Pope, one master in the factory, one father-leader in the family at home.”

HomeEarthPurposeFatherLeaderSkyAtheismMovementMastersKingsAuthorityAtheistFactoriesPopeTotalitarianismDelegates
Book:The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
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“It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions - you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism.”

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Book:How the World Works
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“Totalitarianism extends to whatever touches it...psychological technique, as it operates in the army or in a great industrial plant, entails a direct action on the family. It involves a psychological adaptation of family life to military or industrial methods, supervision of family life, and training family life for military or industrial service. Technique can leave nothing untouched in a civilization. Everything is its concern. Technique, which is destroying all other civilizations, is more than a simple mechanism: it's a whole civilization in itself.”

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Author:Jacques Ellul
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“There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets our norms and drives us from one five-year plan to another. The autonomous individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.”

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Book:The Passionate State of Mind
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“What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated? What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy. What is a war criminal? Was not war itself a crime against God and humanity, and, therefore, were not all those who sanctioned, engineered and conducted wars, war criminals? The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.”

KindDoeWarHumanityEvilNamesLeftStrongDifferencesLibertyDemocracyCrimeDutyVictoryHolyWeakDestructionSacredMadForgivingCriminalsCooperationAttributesAntiwarDefeatedHomelessTotalitarianismOrphanNever Forgive
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“Let historians not record that when America was the most powerful nation in the world we passed on the other side of the road and allowed the last hopes for peace and freedom of millions of people to be suffocated by the forces of totalitarianism. And so tonightto you, the great silent majority of my fellow AmericansI ask for your support.”

PeopleWorldLastsAmericaAsksForceNationsPeaceSidesPowerfulMillionsSupportRecordsFellowsMajoritySilentMost PowerfulHistorianTotalitarianismSilent Majority
Author:Richard M. Nixon
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“People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power, and how these parties define and label themselves, is of far less importance than the question of whether or not it is possible to live like a human being.”

PeopleKnowsHumansWellsPoliticalHuman BeingsPartyImportanceLabelsPostsPolitical PartiesTotalitarianism
Book:The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe
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“Our culture has few taboos that can't be violated, and our establishment has largely given up on setting standards in the first place. Except where Islam is concerned. There, the standards are established under threat of violence, and accepted out of a mix of self-preservation and self-loathing. This is what decadence looks like: a frantic coarseness that "bravely" trashes its own values and traditions, and then knuckles under swiftly to totalitarianism and brute force.”

FirstsLooksSelfPoliticalValuesCultureGivenForceViolenceStandardsConcernedTraditionThreatIslamAcceptedSettingSettingsEstablishmentPreservationTrashGiven UpTotalitarianismTabooBrutesLoathingDecadenceSelf PreservationSelf LoathingFranticKnucklesBrute Force
Author:Ross Douthat
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