Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2006-09-06 Sep 6, 2006Alas, how many have been persecuted for the wrong of having been right?~ Jean-Baptiste SayYou have not converted a man because you have silenced him.~ John Viscount MorleyReligions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government.~ Leon Trotsky Sep 5, 2006Our forefathers found the evils of free thinking more to be endured than the evils of inquest or suppression. This is because thoughtful, bold and independent minds are essential to the wise and considered self-government.~ Justice Robert H. JacksonThe history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.~ Ralph Waldo EmersonPersecution produced its natural effect on them. It found them a sect; it made them a faction.~ Thomas Babington Macaulay Sep 4, 2006In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.~ Alexander HamiltonWe ought to be very cautious in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty, and may be the origin of a number of petty acts of tyranny if the legislator be not on his guard; for as such an accusation does not bear directly on the overt acts of a citizen, but refers to the idea we entertain of his character.~ Charles-Louis De SecondatHeresy is only another word for freedom of thought.~ Graham Greene Sep 1, 2006The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another.~ Edmund BurkeI doubt if the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and for power -- power to oppress others. The oppressed want above all to imitate their oppressors; they want to retaliate.~ Eric HofferPersecution, whenever it occurs, establishes only the power and cunning of the persecutor, not the truth and worth of his belief.~ H. M. Kallen Aug 31, 2006Governments have ever been known to hold a high hand over the education of the people. They know, better than anyone else, that their power is based almost entirely on the school. Hence, they monopolize it more and more.~ Francisco FerrerEither you think – or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.~ F. Scott FitzgeraldHeresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrines of the weak.~ Robert G. Ingersoll Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print