Quotes by Howard Zinn

About Howard Zinn:

Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People?s History of the United States.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Howard Zinn

If the gods had intended for people to vote, they would have given us candidates.

Howard Zinn

Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.

Howard Zinn

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.

Howard Zinn

Emma Willard told the legislature that the education of women "has been too exclusively directed to fit them for displaying to advantage the charms of youth and beauty" The problem, she said, was that "the taste of men, whatever it might happen to be...

Howard Zinn

There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States.

Howard Zinn

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passi...

Howard Zinn

History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it.

Howard Zinn

If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to r...

Howard Zinn

TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will det...

Howard Zinn

They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.

Howard Zinn

How can you have a war on terrorism while war itself is terrorism!

Howard Zinn

How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?

Howard Zinn

The essential ingredients of these struggles for justice are human beings who, if only for a moment, if only while beset with fears, step out of line and do "something", however small. And even the smallest, most unheroic of acts adds to the store of...

Howard Zinn

When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.

Howard Zinn

We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.

Howard Zinn

If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

Howard Zinn

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Howard Zinn

War itself is the enemy of the human race.

Howard Zinn

Author Bio

  • NameHoward Zinn
  • DescriptionAuthor and historian
  • BornAugust 24, 1922
  • DiedJanuary 27, 2010
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPlaywright; Political Scientist; Historian Of Modern Age; Historian; Writer