"How could we bear, nursed as we have been in a free atmosphere, to be gagged and muzzled; to have spies, eavesdroppers and delators at every corner; to have even private conversations caught up and used against us by the Secret Police and all their agents and creatures; to be arrested and interned without trial; or to be tried by political or Party courts for crimes hitherto unknown to civil law. How could we bear to be treated like schoolboys when we are grown-up men; to be turned out on parade by tens of thousands to march and cheer for this slogan or for that; to see philosophers, teachers and authors bullied and toiled to death in concentration camps; to be forced every hour to conceal the natural workings of the human intellect and the pulsations of the human heart? Why, I say that rather than submit to such oppression, there is no length we would not go to."
React to this quote
More by Winston Churchill
See allResonant Thoughts
"What eie doth not pitty to see the great weaknes and decay of our ancient and common mother the earth, which now is grown so aged and stricken in yeares, and so wounded at the hart with the ploughman'…"
"The law of England is anxious for the interests of persons against whom charges may be made. If a man commits a crime, there is a legal and constitutional mode by which that crime may be brought into …"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"How old do I think the earth is? You know what? I don't have any idea. I know it's pretty old, so it goes b…"
— Rick Perry"The shootings are a direct assault on the American Dream- which is why they are so disturbing. The fear ref…"
— Mark Ames"Jessica and I have always worked hard to teach our kids not to be mean. We tolerate noise and mess and junk…"
— Paul Graham"But this we may positively state, that nobody has made any progress in the school of Christ unless he cheer…"
— John Calvin"The curriculum of the girl’s school should be vernacular, needlework and sanitation...teaching women amount…"
— Bal Gangadhar Tilak"The historical Jesus will be to our time a stranger and an enigma. The study of the Life of Jesus has had a…"
— Albert Schweitzer