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Paulo Freire Quotes
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Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. He is best known for his influential work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is generally considered one of the foundational texts of the critical pedagogy movement. Wikipedia  

✵ 19. September 1921 – 2. May 1997  •  Other names Paulo Régis Neves Freire, 保羅·弗萊雷
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Paulo Freire: 115 quotes17 likes

Paulo Freire Quotes

“It is accomplished by the oppressors depositing myths indispensable to the preservation of the status quo.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, Conquest

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“In order for the oppressed to unite they must first cut the umbilical cord of magic and myth which binds them to the world of oppression; the unity which links them to each other must be of a different nature.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, Unity for Liberation

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

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

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1, The Banking Concept of Education

“The correct method lies in dialogue. The conviction of the oppressed that they must fight in their liberation is not a gift bestowed by the revolutionary leadership, but the result of their own conscientização.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“In a dynamic, rather than static, view of revolution, there is no absolute 'before' or 'after,' with the taking of power as the dividing line.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Organization is not only directly linked to unity, but a natural development of that unity. Accordingly, the leaders' pursuit of that unity is also an attempt to organize the people, requiring witness to the fact that the struggle for liberation is a common task.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“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.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, Manipulation

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

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2, page 253

“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.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“Scientific and humanist revolutionary leaders, on the other hand, cannot believe in the myth of the ignorance of the people.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“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.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“The dialogical character of education as the practice of freedom does not begin when the teacher-student meets with the students-teachers in pedagogical situation, but rather when the former first asks herself or himself what she or he will dialogue with the latter about.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“The atmosphere of the home is prolonged in school, where students soon discover that (as in the home) in order to achieve some satisfaction they must adapt to the precepts which have been set from above. One of these precepts is not to think.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“This book will present some aspects of what the writer has termed the pedagogy of the oppressed, a pedagogy which must be forged with, not for, the oppressed (whether individuals or peoples) in the incessant struggle to regain their humanity.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1

“A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1

“For them, having more is an inalienable right.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1, on the oppressors

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

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“The oppressors develop a series of methods precluding any presentation of the world as a problem and showing it rather as a fixed entity, as something given--something to which people, as mere spectators, must adapt.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Someone who cannot acknowledge himself to be as mortal as everyone else still has a long way to go before he can reach the point of encounter.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Thematic investigation thus becomes a common striving towards awareness of reality and towards self-awareness, which makes this investigation a starting point for the educational process or for cultural action of a liberating character.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Some may think that to affirm dialogue--the encounter of women and men in the world in order to transform the world--is naively and subjectively idealistic. There is nothing, however, more real or concrete than people in the world and with the world, than humans with other humans.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4

“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.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“The participants begin to realize that if their analysis of the situation goes any deeper they will either have to divest themselves of their myths, or reaffirm them. Divesting themselves of and renouncing their myths represents, at that moment, an act of self-violence. On the other hand, to reaffirm those myths is to reveal themselves.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1, on the oppressed

“It is not possible to remake this country, to democratize it, humanize it, make it serious, as long as we have teenagers killing people for play and offending life, destroying the dream, and making love unviable. If education alone cannot transform society, without it society cannot change either.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia da indignação (Pedagogy of Indignation) (2000, English trans. 2004), p. 47 [32]

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

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4

“The culture of the dominant class hinders the affirmation of men as beings of decision.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“The task of revolutionary leaders is to pose as problems not only this myth, but all the other myths used by the oppressor elites to oppress.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they existin the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“How can the oppressed, as divided unauthentic beings, participate in the pedagogy of their liberation?”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of women and men as conscious beings, and consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world. They must abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with the posing of the problems of human beings in their relations with the world.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“One of the methods of manipulation is to inoculate individuals with the bourgeois appetite for personal success.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“Faith in people is an a priori requirement for dialogue.”

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“The road to revolution involves openness to the people, not imperviousness to them; it involves communion with the people, not mistrust.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, on revolution

“Education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity of the students.”

Paulo Freire

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

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

Paulo Freire

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

“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.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, Organization

“He has made use of the insights of these men to develop a perspective on education which is authentically his own and which seeks to respond to the concrete realities of Latin America.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

As quoted in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2014), p.31
Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)