To affirm that men and women are persons and as persons should be free, and yet to do nothing tangible to make this affirmation a reality, is a farce.

I have never said, as is sometimes believed, or even suggested that lower-class children should not learn the so-called educated norm of the Portuguese language of Brazil. What I have said is that the problems of language always involve ideological questions and, along with them, questions of power.

The former oppressors do not feel liberated. On the contrary, they genuinely consider themselves to be oppressed.

For cultural invasion to succeed, it is essential that those invaded become convinced of their intrinsic inferiority.

If I am a pure product of genetic, cultural, or class determination, I have no responsibility for my action in the world and, therefore, it is not possible for me to speak of ethics. Of course, this assumption of responsibility does not mean that we are not conditioned genetically, culturally, and socially. It means that we know ourselves to be conditioned but not determined.

Reading is not walking on the words; it's grasping the soul of them.

I cannot be a teacher without exposing who I am.