115 Quotes About Dissent

You are wrong. She defied us the moment she rejected our verdict and opposed her sentence. The laws she undermined are the ones that preserve our order, bring our children into this world, rear them, and protect them up to their deaths. Regardless of how she may have deemed her sentence, refusing the verdict was a crime on its own. The worst crime. What would happen to our society and the peace we value so dearly if actions like hers were left unpunished?

As one Questioner pointed out, 'The Rebels' best asset is their voice of dissent. We shouldn't try to school it out of them, or to corporate-culture it out, or shame it out. It's there to protect us all.

In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side.

To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12, not one person claps. Not even the ones holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring. Possibly because they know me from the Hob, or knew my father, or have encountered Prim, who no one could help loving. So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

I have long been moved by Rosa Luxemburg's assertion that 'freedom is always the freedom to think otherwise,' and thus I've been attracted to contrarians, to people whose instinct is to go against the grain of officially accredited views - especially those accredited within their own circle of progressive thinkers. This has its dangers, to be sure.

The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society.

Informed and rationally articulated dissent contributes to growth of ideas. Uniformed dissent, expressed through lung power, is a sign of insecurity. Countering dissent with fortification leads to a siege mentality. It results in a stagnant society, devoid of organic growth. Such a society perceives itself to be so fragile that every whiff of fresh air is seen as a threat to its existence.