Howard Zinn Quotes

When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.

Change never comes from the White House. It comes from your house and my house.

I am one who believes in the power of the people. I am inspired when I see people hit the streets, who challenge their elected officials, and are willing to stand up and fight. I encourage it.

Democracy depends on people speaking out, and in times of great crisis, on people creating a commotion.

There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and against in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world.

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.

Democracy is built from the bottom up, one step at a time.

Being part of social movements like Black Lives Matter or organizations like NAACP, or any group representing a cause, gives you more resources, knowledge, and power. They can help you use your voice.

Hillary Clinton is the problem; she is not the solution to Donald Trump. We are the solution. We are the ones we've been waiting for. This is our moment. Together, we do have the power to create an America and a world that works for all of us.

The first step in community organization is community disorganization.

I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.

We the voice of the young world. We the voice of the people.

People power. It has no limits.

The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.

When millions of people stand up and fight...they win.

Where progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not as politicians. They didn’t just moan. They worked, they acted, they organized, they rioted if necessary to bring their situation to the attention of people in power. And that’s what we have to do today.

The really critical thing isn't who's sitting in he White House, but who is sitting in the streets, in the cafeterias, in the halls of government, in the factories. Who is protesting, who is occupying offices and demonstrating ? - those are the things that determine what happens.

Movements are not radical. Movements are the American way. A small group of abolitionists writing and speaking eventually led to the end of slavery. A few stirred-up women brought about women's voting. The Populist movement, the Progressive movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, the women's movement - the examples go on and on of 'little people' getting together and telling the truth about their lives. They made our government act.

There is no power above people power.

If the people of America do not rise up, take ownership of our country, we're going to lose it forever.

At every turn when there has been an imbalance of power, the truth questioned, or our beliefs and values distorted, the change required to restore our nation has always come from the bottom up from our people.

There is no degree of human suffering which in and of itself is going to bring about change. Only organisation can change things.

The walls, the bars, the guns and the guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the people.

The great thing about social movements is everybody gets to be a part of them.

Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules.