Top 172 Oppressor Quotes & Sayings

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

The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation? Only as they discover themselves to be 'hosts' of the oppressor can they contribute to the midwifery of their liberating pedagogy. As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to be like and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible. The pedagogy of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discovery that both they and their oppressors are manifestations of dehumanization.

The danger of oppression is not just being oppressed, it's becoming an oppressor.

If you advise someone on the condition that they have to accept it, then you are an oppressor.

It would be hard to find a single example in history in which a group that cast more than 50 percent of the vote got away with calling itself the victim... Women are the only 'oppressed' group to share the same parents as the 'oppressor'; to be born into the middle class and upper class as frequently as the 'oppressor'; to own more of the culture's luxury items than the 'oppressor'.

Revolution is born as a social entity within the oppressor society.

When someone hurts you or harms you, even if it is a deep wound, forgive them. Forgive them NOT for their sake, but as a sign of gratitude to Allah. Why you ask? For making you the victim and not the oppressor. There is no crime in being a victim, rather it brings you closer to Allah and rids you of sins. But as for the oppressor, they'll have to face their Lord one day. So in reality, they are their own greatest victims.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation.

It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

Genocide has two phases: one, destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group; the other, the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. This imposition, in turn, may be made upon the oppressed population which is allowed to remain or upon the territory alone, after removal of the population and the colonization by the oppressor's own nationals.

Take sides. Neutrality always serves the oppressor and never the oppressed.

White women and black men have it both ways. They can act as oppressor or ... and oppression of others.

The grave unites; where e'en the great find rest, And blended lie th' oppressor and th' oppressed!

To pardon the oppressor is to deal harshly with the oppressed.

Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.

I was raised a black child in the South, where you're indoctrinated into a religion that an oppressor gave you.

Tout re volutionnaire finit en oppresseur ou en he re tique. Every revolutionary ends as an oppressor or a heretic.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.

Beware of the words "internal security," for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.

We shall never secure emancipation from the tyranny of the white oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls.

Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else.

There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

Each and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each and everyone of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other.

The Negro cannot win the respect of his oppressor by acquiescing; he merely increases the oppressor's arrogance and contempt.

Never befriend the oppressed unless you are prepared to take on the oppressor.

To forgive an oppressor is oppression upon the oppressed.

The ignorance of the oppressed is strength for the oppressor.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor; the enemy of the people. It will keep you insane your whole life.

To sit back and do nothing is to cooperate with the oppressor.

Forgiveness is commendable, but apply not ointment to the wound of an oppressor.

Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.

An educator in a system of oppression is either a revolutionary or an oppressor.

But it is not really difference the oppressor fears so much as similarity.

Where is the man, who, if asked to become a slave, would not hurl back the offer indignantly in the teeth of the oppressor?

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

A liberation movement that is nonviolent sets the oppressor free as well as the oppressed.

To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with his interpretation of the crimes of the strong.

God is an oppressor, He is incapable of human sympathy; behind a smiling face He hides an evil heart.

Rarely has a people paid the lavish compliment and taken the subtle revenge of turning its oppressor's speech into sorcery.

The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.

Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stands up and protests. The protest need not be merely physical-the throwing of stones and bullets-if it is mental, spiritual; if it expresses itself in silent, persistent dissatisfaction, the cost to the oppressor is terrific.

A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle,and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.At a point, one can only fight fire with fire

It is the obligation of every person who claims to oppose oppression to resist the oppressor by every means at his or her disposal. Not to engage in physical resistance, armed resistance to oppression, is to serve the interests of the oppressor; no more, no less. There are no exceptions to the rule, no easy out.

Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.

When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both.

Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.

But nonviolence was never for the oppressor; it was for the oppressed.

Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.

Matter of internal security - the age-old cry of the oppressor. Picard

REVOLUTIONARY: An oppressed person waiting for the opportunity to become an oppressor.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

For the only great men among the unfree and the oppressed are those who struggle to destroy the oppressor.

If you're on the side of the oppressor, or you're defending the oppressor, or you're actually trying to humanize the oppressor, then that's a problem.

Reality, the oppressor's tongue.

The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.

Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor.

Moral power is always more dangerous to an oppressor than political force.