Paulo Freire quotes for UPSC

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

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people—they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are they liberated: they oppress.

Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects that must be saved from a burning building.

It is necessary to trust in the oppressed and in their ability to reason.

While no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others.

It is when the majorities are denied their right to participate in history as Subjects that they become dominated and alienated.

The oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors

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

Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in 'changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them.'

A deepened consciousness of their situation leads people to apprehend that situation as an historical reality susceptible of transformation.

Dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed.

Critical perception cannot be imposed.

We democratic teachers engage with the world by cultivating curiosity.

The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.

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

Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.

Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible.

Money is the measure of all things, and profit the primary goal. For the oppressors, what is worthwhile is to have more—always more—even at the cost of the oppressed having less or having nothing. For them, to be is to have.

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 the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.

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

Trust is established by dialogue.