“They call themselves conservatives but that’s not it, either. They don’t want to conserve what we now have. They’d rather take the country backwards – the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century.” ― Robert Reich buff.ly/ApmaCjA

“It turns out that what money buys has rapidly diminishing emotional returns ... As long as we're not destitute, happiness depends less on getting what we want than appreciating what we already have.” ― Robert B. Reich 📷 Washington, DC

"Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Institutions do not protect themselves. So choose an institution you care about—a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side." — Timothy Snyder  📷 Washington, DC

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value." — Thomas Paine buff.ly/ddTjrQk

"A Nazi leader outmaneuvers his opponents by manufacturing a general conviction that the present moment is exceptional, and then transforming that state of exception into a permanent emergency. Citizens then trade real freedom for fake safety." - Snyder 📷 New York, NY

"Dissidents of the twentieth century, whether they were resisting fascism or communism, were called extremists. Modern authoritarian regimes, such as Russia, use laws on extremism to punish those who criticize their policies." — Timothy Snyder 📷 Brooklyn, NY

"How tedious is a tyranny in the throes of enactment. It’s always the same plot." — Margaret Atwood  📷 Washington, DC

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. ...The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." — Frederick Douglass buff.ly/z96Pawi

"The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny" — Wole Soyinka buff.ly/SJryQiZ

"For this was the other thing that Elric knew: that to compromise with Tyranny is always to be destroyed by it. The sanest and most logical choice lay always in resistance." — Michael Moorcock  buff.ly/UDECR40

"The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of political parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. DO NOT FALL FOR IT." — Timothy Snyder 📷 Washington, DC

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home" — James Madison 📷 Washington, DC

“Physical and social insecurity have always been easy targets in fragile democracies, and most dictators rise to power with initial public support. Somehow people always forget that it’s much easier to install a dictator than to remove one.” ― Garry Kasparov 📷 Washington, DC

“The policies of the Cold War held remarkably firm for decades and eventually ended in a great victory for the side of freedom. Since then, one president after another, passed the buck of human rights in Russia until Putin had enough momentum to launch a real war on European soil.”― Kasparov 📷 SF

“Hitler did not move into the Sudetenland because the world protested vigorously at his Austrian Anschluss, but because the response was so feeble. It was only after all of his early triumphs were accomplished so effortlessly, against so little opposition, that he had the confidence to go too far.”

“And so my last policy recommendation is to listen to the dissidents, even if you do not like what they have to say. They are the ones who reveal to us the dark realities of our societies, the realities that most of us have the luxury to turn away from." - Kasparov buff.ly/UJ2jPN4

“Evil doesn't die. It grows back through the cracks of our apathy.” ― Garry Kasparov 📷 Washington, DC

“A war on any grounds is terrible, but Putin’s dangerous turn to ethnically based imperialism cannot be ignored. Dictators only stop when they are stopped, and appeasing Putin with Ukraine will only stoke his appetite for more conquests.” ― Garry Kasparov 📷 Brooklyn, NY

“One comforting thing about the Trump White House is that you aren't forced to choose between malice and incompetence.” ― Garry Kasparov buff.ly/FeoX6K5

“Cheche’s words that year aged well for me, gaining more meaning in the present moment of the past. Never, never, never agree to be intimidated by anyone, no matter who he is.” ― Maria Ressa, How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future buff.ly/nXTwKE9

“Education determines the quality of governance. An investment in education takes a generation to bear fruit. Likewise, countries feel the impact of this disregard for education a generation later.” ― Maria Ressa 📷 Cincinatti, Ohio

“NNon-co-operation with evil is as much a duty as is co-operation with good.” buff.ly/UJ2jPN4 Proceeds go to supporting anti-maga candidates.

“We are standing on the rubble of the world that was, and we must have the foresight and courage to imagine, and create, the world as it should be: more compassionate, more equal, more sustainable. A world that is safe from fascists and tyrants." - Ressa

“What I have witnessed and documented over the past decade is technology's godlike power to infect each of us with a virus of lies, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hatred, and accelerating the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world.” ― Ressa 📷 Washington, DC

“Staying silent or compliant changed nothing. Speaking up was an act of creation.” ― Maria Ressa buff.ly/CVr3mrS

“Today, an emergent wave of right-wing populist leaders uses social media to question and break down reality, triggering rage and paranoia on a bed of exponential lies. This is how fascism is normalized and where political outrage meets terrorism, the vanguard of mass violence.” ― Ressa 📷 DC

“When you take a risk, you have to trust that someone will come to your aid; and when it’s your turn, you will help someone else. It’s better to face your fear than to run from it because running won’t make the problem go away. When you face it, you have the chance to conquer it.” ―Ressa 📷 DC

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” ― Maria Ressa 📷 Washington, DC

“So how do you stand up to a dictator? You can’t do it alone. You have to create a team, Stand in someone else’s shoes. And do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” ―  Ressa,  buff.ly/XxGLRSn

"Call the rabble-rousers terrorists. Say their very existence weakens the state. In the end, the government need not do anything to silence dissent. Their neighbors will do it for them." — Kameron Hurley  buff.ly/UJ2jPN4

"I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom." — Thomas Jefferson  buff.ly/XRfqI1q

"In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself."

"America is at a crossroads. A country that once stood as the global symbol of democracy has been teetering on the brink of authoritarianism." — Heather Cox Richardson buff.ly/z3lQnnL

"I realized that this was the big secret of democracy -- that change can occur by starting off with just a few people doing something." — Michael Moore buff.ly/oYhCpb7

"Allowing ourselves to become a nation of silent, secretive, timid citizens is likely to result in a system of democracy and justice that is neither very democratic nor very just." — Dahlia Lithwick buff.ly/CVr3mrS

"Democracy is always an unfinished experiment, testing the capacity of each generation to live freedom nobly." — George Weigel 📷 Washington, DC

"Democracy is not a tearing down; it is a building up. It does not denial of the divine right of kings; it asserts the divine right of all men." — Calvin Coolidge buff.ly/oosgP8b

"The presence of the other, which can be very threatening, becomes, in play, a delightful source of curiosity, and this curiosity contributes toward the development of healthy attitudes in friendship, love, and, later, political life." — Martha C. Nussbaum  📷 Washington Square, NYC

"I venture the challenging statement that if American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt buff.ly/z3lQnnL

"The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he is." — Harry Zohn 📷 Denver, Colorado

"The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of a democracy, but would basically be a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not even dream of escaping. It would be a system of slavery where, through consumption and entertainment, the slaves would love their servitudes." — Huxley

"In the history of American democracy, we have had undisciplined presidents. We have had inexperienced presidents. We have had amoral presidents. Rarely if ever before have we had them all at once." — Anonymous buff.ly/nXTwKE9

"Democracy is supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. Capitalism is ‘of the capitalist, for the capitalist’. Period." — Jerry Ash 📷 Washington, DC

"Two things form the bedrock of any open society — freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have a free country." — Salman Rushdie buff.ly/UJ2jPN4

"Dictatorships usually exist primarily because of the internal power distribution in the home country. The population and society are too weak to cause the dictatorship serious problems, wealth and power are concentrated in too few hands." — Gene Sharp 📷 Washington, DC

"When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too." — Bill Moyers 📷 Prospect Park, Brooklyn

"Here in America we are waging a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world." — FDR 📷 New York, NY

"Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without all three, we have no shared reality, and democracy as we know it—and all meaningful human endeavors—are dead." — Maria Ressa 📷 Hudson, NY

"Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy." — David Brin 📷 Washington, DC

"America truly is the best idea for a country that anyone has ever come up with so far. Not only because we value democracy and the rights of the individual, but because we are always our own most effective voice of descent..." - Ferguson buff.ly/ddTjrQk