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In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.

— Cornel West

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More quotes by Cornel West

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.

Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008)

Justice is what love looks like in public.

Brother West (2009)

I remind young people everywhere I go, one of the worst things the older generation did was to tell them for twenty-five years "Be successful, be successful, be successful" as opposed to "Be great, be great, be great". There's a qualitative difference.

To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom. (p172)

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (2004)

This market way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience. (p29)

Race Matters (1993)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Cornel West (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.