Jay > Jay's Quotes

“The idea was that inequalities increase in the early phases of industrialization, because only a minority is prepared to benefit from the new wealth that industrialization brings. Later, in more advanced phases of development, inequality automatically decreases as a larger and larger fraction of the population partakes of the fruits of economic growth.”
― Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century

“The sharp reduction in income inequality that we observe in almost all the rich countries between 1914 and 1945 was due above all to the world wars and the violent economic and political shocks they entailed (especially for people with large fortunes). It had little to do with the tranquil process of intersectoral mobility described by Kuznets.”
― Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“James Madison, the author of the First Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any law respecting an establishment of religion, was also an author of Article VI, which states unambiguously that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust.” His later Detached Memoranda make it very plain that he opposed the government appointment of chaplains in the first place, either in the armed forces or at the opening ceremonies of Congress. “The establishment of the chaplainship to Congress is a palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles.”
― Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

“When...did it become irrational to dislike religion, any religion, even to dislike it vehemently? When did reason get redescribed as unreason? When were the fairy stories of the superstitious placed above criticism, beyond satire? A religion was not a race. It was an idea, and ideas stood (or fell) because they were strong enough (or too weak) to withstand criticism, not because they were shielded from it. Strong ideas welcomed dissent.”
― Salman Rushdie, Joseph Anton: A Memoir

“Dare to think for yourself.”
― Voltaire

“no people can be both ignorant and free.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
― St. Catherine of Siena

“Hypocrites get offended by the truth.”
― Jess C. Scott, Bad Romance: Seven Deadly Sins Anthology

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden

“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“if we don’t rebel, if we’re not physically in an active rebellion, then it’s spiritual death.”
― Chris Hedges

“We need in every bay and community a group of angelic troublemakers.”
― Bayard Rustin

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
― Howard Zinn

“Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act.”
― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

“Politics is pointless if it does nothing to enhance the beauty of our lives.”
― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

“The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you don’t listen to it, you will never know what justice is.”
― Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present

“It was an old lesson learned by governments: that war solves problems of control.”
― Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present

“People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they are told to leave.”
― Howard Zinn