The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.

No matter how much someone may irritate me, I have no right to puff myself up with my own self-importance so as to declare that person to be absolutely incompetent, assuming a posture of disdain from my own position of false superiority.

There is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is to transform the world.

Welfare programs as instruments of manipulation ultimately serve the end of conquest. They act as an anesthetic, distracting the oppressed from the true causes of their problems and from the concrete solutions of these problems.

As one might expect, authoritarianism will at times cause children and students to adopt rebellious positions, defiant of any limit, discipline, or authority. But it will also lead to apathy, excessive obedience, uncritical conformity, lack of resistance against authoritarian discourse, self-abnegation, and fear of freedom.

In order to have the continued opportunity to express their "generosity" the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well.

The road to revolution involves openness to the people, not imperviousness to them; it involves communion with the people, not mistrust.