Paulo Freire Quotes

Because it's kind of great, being an idea that everybody likes. But I could never be the idea to myself, not all the way. And Agloe is a place where a paper creation became real. A dot on the map became a real place, more real than the people who created the dot could never have imagined. I thought maybe the paper cutout of a girl could start becoming real here also. And it seemed like a way to tell that paper girl who cared about popularity and clothes and everything else: 'You are going to the paper towns. And you are never coming back.

There's those who talk about it. And there's those who BE about it!

In all the illusions, you're the only truth that I need

To truly be committed to a life of honesty, love and discipline, we must be willing to commit ourselves to reality.

The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.

I wonder what the world would be like if everybody walked their talk; if word was married with deed; promises delivered by action.

Thought can never be compared with action, but when it awakens in us the image of truth.

[T]he more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.

The new leader is one who commits people to action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change.

You," he said, "are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world, and that, I believe, is why you are in so much pain.

In a way, it's a great thing that I have the opportunity to stand at the crossroads of Los Angeles and Indianapolis, and stay right here, ... People say that reality is in the footsteps, and not the words. That, as much as anybody, gives you a chance to show your sincerity and commitment, and what you're all about as far as leaving a legacy.

In order to make a visualization a reality in the world of form, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Everybody is trying to make something real, something with a core of substance, and of course, an exciting action movie with a lot of terrific stuff and fantastic visuals and everything, but at the core of it, it's a movie with substance and something that is going to make people think.

And once begun, change cannot be reversed.

Truth itself is something you live, not something you think.

Love is indicated by deeds (and not by words)

Truth exists independent of style. It involves all kinds of issues. Properly considered, it's a quest, a pursuit. To say that vérité is more truthful than something that is narrated is just misplaced. Completely wrong. And the fact that people still talk about it as though they're really talking about something... it puzzles me greatly. A moment of reflection about it tells you that it makes no sense!

Acceptance is not a state of passivity or inaction. We are not saying you can't change the world, right wrongs or replace evil with good. Acceptance is, in fact, the first step to successful action. If you don't fully accept a situation precisely the way it is, you will have difficulty changing it.

In all aspects of life... we define our reality in terms of metaphors and then proceed to act on the basis of the metaphors. We draw inferences, set goals, make commitments, and execute plans, all on the basis of how we in part structure our experience, consciously and unconsciously, by means of metaphor.

Life-actors never rehearse and need no script. A life-actor uses whatever he has available, nothing more, nothing less.

I want to make change, but I've already made change. I will continue to make change. I'm not just running on a promise of change.

Now is the time to be doing, now is the time to be stirring, now is the time to amend myself.

Truth is so impossible. Something has to be done for it.

To some people, not caring is supposed to be cool, commenting is more interesting than doing, and everything is judged and then disposed of in, like, five minutes. I'm not interested in those kinds of people. I like the person who commits and goes all in and takes big swings and then maybe fails or looks stupid; who jumps and falls down, rather than the person who points at the person who fell, and laughs. But I do sometimes laugh when people fall down.

If you're going to affirm something, affirm the truth. Then go do something about it.