Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)

Their wordsSectarianism, fed by fanaticism, is always castrating. Radicalization, nourished by a critical spirit, is always creative.

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Their wordsOnly power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both.

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Their wordsThis, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.

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Their wordsTrue generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity.

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Their wordsThe oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility.

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Their wordsFreedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly.

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Their wordsNever in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence?

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Their wordsLiberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one. The man or woman who emerges is a new person, viable only as the oppressor-oppressed contradiction is superseded by the humanization of all people.

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Their wordsConsciously or unconsciously, the act of rebellion by the oppressed (an act which is always, or nearly always, as violent as the initial violence of the oppressors) can initiate love.

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Their wordsThey talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change.

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Their wordsThis discovery cannot be purely intellectual but must involve action; nor can it be limited to mere activism, but must include serious reflection: only then will it be a praxis.

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Their wordsFor apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human.

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Their wordsIn the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.

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Their wordsLiberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.

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Their wordsKnowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

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Their wordsAny situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence.

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Their wordsTo exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it.

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Their wordsThe banking approach to adult education, for example, will never propose to students that they critically consider reality.

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Their wordsDialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people.

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Their wordsIts objective is to call the attention of true humanists to the fact that they cannot use banking educational methods in the pursuit of liberation, for they would only negate that very pursuit. Nor may a revolutionary society inherit these methods from an oppressor society.

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Their wordsHopelessness is a form of silence, of denying the world and fleeing from it.

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Their wordsWhat distinguishes revolutionary leaders from the dominant elite is not only their objectives, but their procedures.

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Their wordsLeaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people - they manipulate them.

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