Michael Moore > Quotes

“[Librarians] are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them.”
― Michael Moore

“I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group.
They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them. You know, they've had their budgets cut. They're paid nothing. Books are falling apart. The libraries are just like the ass end of everything, right?”
― Michael Moore

“Capitalism means that a few people will do very well, and the rest will serve the few.”
― Michael Moore

“How does paying people more money make you more money?

It works like this. The more you pay your workers, the more they spend. Remember, they're not just your workers- they're your consumers, too. The more they spend their extra cash on your products, the more your profits go up. Also, when employees have enough money that they don't have to live in constant fear of bankruptcy, they're able to focus more on their work- and be more productive. With fewer personal problems and less stress hanging over them, they'll lose less time at work, meaning more profits for you. Pay them enough to afford a late model car (i.e. one that works), and they'll rarely be late for work. And knowing that they'll be able to provide a better life for their children will not only give them a more positive attitude, it'll give them hope- and an incentive to do well for the company because the better the company does, the better they'll do.

Of course, if you're like most corporations these days- announcing mass layoffs right after posting record profits- then you're already hemorrhaging the trust and confidence of your remaining workforce, and your employees are doing their jobs in a state of fear. Productivity will drop. That will hurt sales. You will suffer. Ask the people at Firestone: Ford has alleged that the tire company fired its longtime union employees, then brought in untrained scab workers who ended up making thousands of defective tires- and 203 dead customers later, Firestone is in the toilet.”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group.
They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them.”
― Michael Moore

“We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. ”
― Michael Moore

“It was the American middle class. No one's house cost more than two or three year's salary, and I doubt the spread in annual wages (except for the osteopath) exceeded more than five thousand dollars. And other than the doctor (who made house calls), the store managers, the minister, the salesman, and the banker, everyone belonged to a union. That meant they worked a forty-hour week, had the entire weekend off (plus two to four weeks' paid vacation in the summer), comprehensive medical benefits, and job security. In return for all that, the country became the most productive in the world and in our little neighborhood it meant your furnace was always working, your kids could be dropped off at the neighbors without notice, you could run next door anytime to borrow a half-dozen eggs, and the doors to all the homes were never locked -- because who would need to steal anything if they already had all that they needed?”
― Michael Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“[Bill] Clinton was a pretty good president for a Republican.”
― Michael Moore

“Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. You got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades! I love the librarians, and I am grateful for them!”
― Michael Moore

“They convinced our mothers that if a food item came in a bottle -- or a can or a box or a cellophane bag -- then it was somehow better for you than when it came to you free of charge via Mother Nature....An entire generation of us were introduced in our very first week to the concept that phony was better than real, that something manufactured was better than something that was right there in the room. (Later in life, this explained the popularity of the fast food breakfast burrito, neocons, Kardashians, and why we think reading this book on a tiny screen with only three minutes of battery life left is enjoyable.”
― Michael Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“It is the responsiblity of every human to know their actions and the consequences of their actions and to ask questions and to question things when they are wrong.”
― Michael Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“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 Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“One thing I learned as a journalist is that there is at least one disgruntled person in every workplace in America -- and at least double that number with a conscience. Hard as they try, they simply can't turn their heads away from an injustice when they see one taking place.”
― Michael Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“A government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom, morality, and humanity.”
― Michael Moore

“I'm a citizen in a democracy. To call me an activist would be redundant. It's not a spectator sport. If we all become non-participants, it no longer works.”
― Michael Moore, The World According to Michael Moore: An Unauthorized Portrait in His Own Words

“If you could read, you knew shit.”
― Michael Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“Those who had the remaining jobs would have to buy the cheapest stuff possible with their drastically reduced wages, and in order for the manufacturers to keep that stuff cheap, it would have to be made by fifteen-year-olds in China.”
― Michael Francis Moore

“Nothing seems crueler--or more ironic--than these upper crusters who never pay a dime for their high-priced shrinks or reflexology sessions to call those who just want that tumor removed from their uterus a bunch of commies. Well, the revolution is at hand and let's hope all those uninsured commies give the rich such a headache that a whole bottle of Advil won't be enough to take the pain way. ”
― Michael Moore

“The worst thing to tell a free people in a country that's still mostly free is that they are not allowed to read something.”
― Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?

“I had an unusually large-sized head, though this was not uncommon for a baby in the Midwest. The craniums in our part of the country were designed to leave a little extra room for the brain to grow in case one day we found ourselves exposed to something we didn't understand, like a foreign language, or a salad.”
― Michael Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control.”
― Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?

“For kids who are exposed to books at home, the loss of a library is sad. But for kids who come from environments where people don't read, the loss of a library is a tragedy hat might keep them from ever discovering the joys of reading-or from gathering the kind of information that will decide their lot in life.”
― Michael Moore

“The working people of the Flint area hated this rag, but it was our only daily so you read it. Everyone called it the "Flint Urinal." Editorially, the paper had historically been on the wrong side of every major social and political issue of the twentieth century -- "the wrong side" meaning: whatever side the union workers were on, the Urinal took the opposite position.”
― Michael Francis Moore, Here Comes Trouble

“На света останаха толкова малко сигурни неща - слънцето все още залязва на запад, папата все още отслужва тържествен молебен в нощта срещу Коледа и Стром Търмънд винаги изниква от небитието, за да опипва бившите първи дами. ”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“Няма никаква рецесия, скъпи приятели! Нито спад в икономиката, нито трудни времена. Просто богаташите си живеят от плячката, която успяха да отмъкнат през последните две десетилетия и искат да се уверят, че никой от нас няма да потърси своя дял. Те правят всичко възможно да ни убедят, че няма достатъчно за всички и няма смисъл да искаме парче от тортата.”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“...I have a theory about why and how all this has happened to you.
Instead of having to earn it, you have been handed the presidency, the same way you've come by everything else in your life. Money and name alone have opened every door for you. Without effort or hard work or intelligence, or ingenuity, you have been bequeathed a life of privilege...So it's no wonder you think you deserved to be named President. You didn't earn it or win it- therefore it must be yours!”
― Michael Moore

“Кандидатирайте се. Да, точно така - ВИЕ - човекът, който чете книгата в момента. Това е единственият начин нещата да се променят. Трябва нормалните и порядъчни хора да заемат правителствени постове, в противен случай страната ще бъде управлявана от негодници. Как да роптаем срещу корумпираните политици, щом самите ние нямаме куража да вършим тяхната работа? Време е ВИЕ да хвърлите картите на масата още идната година. Можете да се кандидатирате за училищно настоятелство, градска управа, областна хазна, комисия по водоснабдяването, градски или областен съвет, щатски представител, губернатор, член на Конгреса, сенатор или който и да е друг пост. Мястото, за което непременно трябва да се кандидатирате е делегат на околия. Всяка околия в Америка избира свои делегати от всички партии. Това може и да е най-ниското ниво на държавното управление, но това е основата, върху която е построена цялата кибритена къщичка. Делегатите присъстват на конгресите на отделните партии и участват в номинирането на кандидатите за президенти. Вие трябва да сте сред тях.
За мен това не са само приказки. Аз се кандидатирах и успях да убедя неколцина приятели да се кандидатират за делегати на околии. Нужни са само няколко подписа, за да бъде отпечатано името ви на бюлетината и определен ценз, в зависимост от поста. Много малко хора гласуват на предварителните избори и някои околии остават без делегати, така че понякога за да бъдеш избран е достатъчно само да се кандидатираш. Отправяйте се към избирателните секции и районните комисии и се снабдете с документи, преди да е станало късно.
Това са само някои от мерките, които можем да предприемем, за да осъществим контра преврат. Независимо дали сте демократ, „зелен" или просто разгневен гражданин, важното е да се вдигнем и да доведем нещата до край.”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“Въпрос 1. Джордж, можете ли да пишете и четете като възрастен?

На мен и на много други хора ни се струва, че сте функцио-нално неграмотен. Няма от какво да се срамувате. Не сте сам (ако не ми вярвате, пребройте печатните грешки в тази книга). Милиони американци не могат да четат и пишат на ниво, по-високо от четвърти клас. Нищо чудно, че един от лозунгите Ви беше „Нека не позволим на нито едно дете да изостава!” – знаели сте от личен опит как се чувстват повтарячите.”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“Най-накрая се докарахме до положението на последната ба-нанова република. Вече си задаваме въпроса: защо да ставаме сутрин и да си скъсваме задниците от работа, за да пълним гу-шите на узурпатора и неговата кохорта от т. нар. корпоративна Америка (автономна гилдия, развиваща дейност в рамките на САЩ, която от известно време насам самостоятелно управлява страната). Защо да си плащаме данъците, щом по този начин финансираме преврата? Ще можем ли отново да изпратим сино¬вете си да се бият в чужбина и да умират, защитавайки „начина ни на живот", когато всъщност под това се разбира само жизне¬ния стандарт на шепа побелели старчоци, окопали се в сграда, заграбена още при Потомак*? (При река Потомак е подписан мирният договор, с който се слага край на гражданската война.)”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men

“В страната има 56 000 нови ми¬лионери, които успяха да се измъкнат сухи от водата. Те натру¬паха пари, защото вече разполагаха със солиден начален капи¬тал, който инвестираха в купуването на компании и увеличиха печалбите си, изхвърляйки хората на улицата, експлоатирайки деца, използвайки труда на бедни чужденци и получавайки голе¬ми намаления на данъците. За тях алчността е не само доброде-тел, а лайтмотив. Те толкова сполучливо създадоха климат за отглеждането на тази алчност, че дори думата вече не се употре¬бява в познатия смисъл. Сега алчността е синоним на УСПЕХ! Дори пунктуацията се промени. Скоро никой няма да смята ла¬комията за грешна и отвратителна; тя ще стане още една част от нашето ежедневие. Този процес вече е в сила, тъй като когато он¬зи образ от Тексас си присвои поста, който не беше спечелил, ние го сметнахме за нормално, застанахме зад него и му пода рихме властта. Това не е алчност - казахме си. - Това е умна так¬тика. Както генетично разработените добавки към корнфлейкса не са нещо нередно - това е прогресът. Както съседът, който си купи най-големия спортен автомобил с висока проходимост. Той не е алчен - той просто се кефи от скоростта, бейби!”
― Michael Moore, Stupid White Men