Skip to content

Paulo Freire Quotes

1921–1997 Brazil

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (September 19, 1921 – May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian educator and theorist of critical pedagogy.

Brazil
Academics
Educators
Philosophers

Also known as: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Random Paulo Freire quote

93 quotes

Certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

They have no consciousness of themselves as persons or as members of an oppressed class.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

It would be a contradiction in terms if the oppressors not only defended but actually implemented a liberating education.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

One might say they failed to perceive the untested feasibility lying beyond the limit-situations which engendered their needs.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Discovering himself to be an oppressor may cause considerable anguish, but it does not necessarily lead to solidarity with the oppressed.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

The oppressed find in the oppressors their model of 'manhood.'

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

The oppressed want at any cost to resemble the oppressors.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Finally, cultural revolution develops the practice of permanent dialogue between leaders and people and consolidates the participation of the people in power.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Those who are served by the present limit-situation regard the untested feasibility as a threatening limit-situation which must not be allowed to materialize, and act to maintain the status quo.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity of students, with the ideological intent (often not perceived by educators) of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Founding itself upon love, humility, and faith, dialogue becomes a horizontal relationship of which mutual trust between the dialoguers is a logical consequence.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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.

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

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

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Paulo Freire (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.