“Who Rebels? Who rises in arms? Rarely the slave, but almost always the oppressor turned slave.”

History and Utopia (1960)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Who Rebels? Who rises in arms? Rarely the slave, but almost always the oppressor turned slave." by Emil M. Cioran?
Emil M. Cioran photo
Emil M. Cioran 531
Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995

Related quotes

José Rizal photo

“I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors;
Where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God.”

José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist

"Mi Ultimo Adios" st. 13 - poem written on the eve of his execution (29 December 1896) - translated from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire.

C. L. R. James photo

“If you are not their slaves, you are rebels.”

C. L. R. James (1901–1989) Trinidadian writer

James is quoting Toussaint Louverture's speech to his troops--most of whom, like Toussaint himself, were former slaves. The "their" refers to the French imperialists, p. 307
The Black Jacobins (1938)

Eric Foner photo

“If Robert E. Lee, who rebelled against the American government, deserves one, then why doesn't Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion?”

Eric Foner (1943) American historian

As quoted in "Trump says it is 'foolish' to remove Confederate symbols" https://www.ft.com/content/e7496854-82a1-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb3ff (17 August 2017), by Neil Munshi, FT.com
2010s

Leon Trotsky photo

“A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains”

Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Marxist revolutionary from Russia

Their Morals and Ours (1938)
Context: (On the American Civil War) "History has different yardsticks for the cruelty of the Northerners and the cruelty of the Southerners in the Civil War. A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!"

Huey P. Newton photo

“The oppressor must be harassed until his doom. He must have no peace by day or by night. The slaves have always outnumbered the slavemasters. The power of the oppressor rests upon the submission of the people.”

Huey P. Newton (1942–1989) Co-founder of the Black Panther Party

From "In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People

African Spir photo

“The virtue preached by devout persons is the virtue of the slave who always believe themselves under the eye of the master. However, Jésus said: 'Serve God not as slaves, but as sons in the house”

African Spir (1837–1890) Russian philosopher

Source: Words of a Sage : Selected thoughts of African Spir (1937), p. 39, with a quote from Galatians, IV, 6-8.

James Russell Lowell photo

“Slaving gave rise to a division of labor”

Eric Wolf (1923–1999) American anthropologist

Source: Europe and the People Without History, 1982, Chapter 7, The Slave Trade, p. 229.
Context: Slaving gave rise to a division of labor in which the business of capture, maintenance, and overland transport of slaves was in African hands, while Europeans took charge of transoceanic transport, the "seasoning" or breaking in of slaves, and their eventual distribution.

Andrea Dworkin photo

“The genius of any slave system is found in the dynamics which isolate slaves from each other, obscure the reality of a common condition, and make united rebellion against the oppressor inconceivable.”

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer

Our Blood 1976 as quoted in The Suffering Will Not Be Televised: African American Women and Sentimental by Rebecca Wanzo

Related topics