Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means
to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.
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.
If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed.
Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.
The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders.
One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.
No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are.
Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their own decision making is to change them into objects.
The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.