If you’re looking for the best On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century quotes you’ve come to the right place. We compiled a list of 10 quotes that best summarise the message of Timothy Snyder in On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Let these quotes inspire you!
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Quotes
To abandon facts is to abandon freedom.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of political parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. DO NOT FALL FOR IT.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Other forces were at work besides conformism. But without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Like Hitler, the President used the word lies to mean statements of fact not to his liking and presented journalism as a campaign against himself.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Most the power of authoritarianism is freely given.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see patterns and make judgments. It sketches for us the structures within which we can seek freedom. It reveals moments, of each of them different, none entirely unique. To understand one moment is to see the possibility of being the cocreator of another. History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something. The Polish poet Czesław Miłosz thought that such a notion of responsibility worked against loneliness and indifference. History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something… History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices we make are a kind of vote, making it more or less likely that free and fair elections will be held in the future. In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: It assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up. But there are no adults. We own this mess.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
The European history of the twentieth century shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary men can find themselves standing over death pits with guns in their hands. It would serve us well today to understand why.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish