Bystanders Quotes

What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.

There are generally three kinds of people in the world. People who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who say, what in the heck happened.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

Evil prevails when good people do nothing.

There are no innocent bystanders.

The honest and good man ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.

The future is in our hands. We are not hapless bystanders. We can influence whether we have a planet of peace, social justice, equity, and growth or a planet of unbridgeable differences between peoples, wasted resources, corruption, and terror.

What's odd about the selfie stick is that while it might faintly improve the photo you'll post on Facebook, it definitely makes you seem like a shallow, awful clown to any bystanders in the humdrum physical space you're posing in.

For most of human history, we could only watch, like bystanders, the beautiful dance of Nature. But today, we are on the cusp of an epoch-making transition, from being passive observers of Nature to being active choreographers of Nature. The Age of Discovery in science is coming to a close, opening up an Age of Mastery.

The terrors of the child are quite reasonable, and add to his loveliness; for his utter ignorance and weakness, and his enchanting indignation on such a small basis of capital compel every bystander to take his part.

There are no bystanders in a dharmayudh - it is a holy war.

In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

There was no one left to speak for me.

The torments of martyrdom are probably most keenly felt by the bystanders.

We cannot long protect liberty if our leaders continue to act like mere bystanders in the work of government.

It is not open to the cool bystander . . . to set himself up as an impartial judge of events which would never have occurred had he outstretched a helping hand in time.

There are moments in our lives when we summon the courage to make choices that go against reason, against common sense and the wise counsel of people we trust. But we lean forward nonetheless because, despite all risks and rational argument, we believe that the path we are choosing is right and best thing to do. We refuse to be bystanders, even if we do not know exactly where our actions will lead.

History is said to be written by the victors. Fiction, by contrast, is largely the work of injured bystanders.

Bullies may be the perpetrators of evil, but it is the evil of passivity of all those who know what is happening and never intervene that perpetuates such abuse.

We need to turn bystanders and enablers into allies. Ninety-eight percent of United States corporations right now have sexual harassment training policies. Seventy percent have prevention programs. But still, overwhelmingly, bystanders and witnesses don't come forward. In 2016, the Harvard Business Review called it the "bystander effect." And yet -- remember 9/11. Millions of times we've heard, "If you see something, say something." Imagine how impactful that would be if we carried that through to bystanders in the workplace regarding sexual harassment -- to recognize and interrupt these incidences; to confront the perpetrators to their face; to help and protect the victims. This is my shout-out to men: we need you in this fight. And to women, too -- enablers to allies.

There are no bystanders in life [...] Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.

Most evil in the world is only partly because of an evil person. Most of it is because of the complicity of bystanders.