[Humans'] capacity to intervene, to compare, to judge, to decide, to choose, to desist makes them capable of acts of greatness, of dignity, and, at the same time, of the unthinkable in terms of indignity.

It's no sin to make a critical study of Brazil's reality. A small percentage own land. Most people don't.

It is essential for the oppressed to realize that when they accept the struggle for humanization they also accept, from that moment, their total responsibility for the struggle.

This capacity to go beyond the factors of conditioning is one of the obvious advantages of the human person.

Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality. The former attempts to maintain the submersion of consciousness; the latter strives for the emergence of consciousness and critical intervention in reality.

The trust of the people in the leaders reflects the confidence of the leaders in the people.

If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed