Totalitarianism is not about some state that appears out of nowhere and suddenly is all-powerful. There can't be any such thing. Totalitarianism starts when the difference between your public life and your private life is effaced. Timothy D. Snyder More Quotes by Timothy D. Snyder More Quotes From Timothy D. Snyder Very often, when leaders repeat things over and over, they are preparing you for when that meme actually emerges in reality. Timothy D. Snyder meme things you reality If we don't have access to facts, we can't trust each other. Without trust, there's no law. Without law, there's no democracy. Timothy D. Snyder trust democracy law facts Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Timothy D. Snyder wiser experience democracy communism People who lived in the 1920s and '30s and '40s were not so different from us. In some ways, they were probably better citizens than we are. They had longer attention spans, for example. Educated people tended to read a bit more than we did. Timothy D. Snyder some better attention people When a terrorist attack comes, you will not necessarily know who did it. What you can know is that certain kinds of leaders will use that to suspend your rights. Timothy D. Snyder your will know you What we ended up with, from Bill Clinton onward, is a status quo party and an 'undo the system' party, where the Democrats became the status quo party and the Republicans became the 'undo the system' party. Timothy D. Snyder status system up party In rhetoric and action, the Trump administration has aggrandized 'radical Islamic terror,' thus making what Madison called a 'favorable emergency' more likely. Timothy D. Snyder emergency more rhetoric action Fascism says what you and I experience as facts or what reporters experience as facts are irrelevant. All that matters are impressions and emotions and myths. Timothy D. Snyder emotions you experience facts If you want to avoid criticism, then you shouldn't be a historian, because historians are trying to understand and explain. If you're trying to please people, then you should go into the fashion business, or the candy business. Timothy D. Snyder you fashion business people Every day you don't do something, it makes it less likely that you will ever do something. So you've got to get started right away. Timothy D. Snyder every-day will day you The 20th century shows that the form of government that we take for granted, a constitutional democratic republic with checks and balances and a rule of law - that form of government is usually temporary. Timothy D. Snyder rule-of-law government temporary law We can only see as much and we can only go as far as our languages take us. Timothy D. Snyder us only go see When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of 'terrorism' and 'extremism.' Be alive to the fatal notions of 'exception' and 'emergency.' Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. Timothy D. Snyder words look angry terrorism The minor choices we make are themselves a kind of vote. Our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much. Timothy D. Snyder words vote choices absence To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. Timothy D. Snyder true nothing freedom facts Republics, like other forms of government, exist in history and can rise and fall. Timothy D. Snyder rise government history fall The Constitution is worth saving, the rule of law is worth saving, democracy is worth saving, but these things can and will be lost if everyone waits around for someone else. Timothy D. Snyder someone constitution democracy law Trump's Twitter flood of late-night mendacity is an unhindered celebration of fragile manhood, a ceaseless summons to the millions for affirmation, a proclamation to vulnerable men across the land that endless preening and stroking is a normal and imitable way of life. Timothy D. Snyder flood men life way Americans do not want to think that there is an alternative to what we have. Therefore, as soon as you say 'fascism' or whatever it might be, then the American response is to say 'no' because we lack the categories that allow us to think outside of the box that we are no longer in. Timothy D. Snyder say think you want Mr. Trump is primarily a television personality. As such, he is judged by that standard. This means that a scandal does not call forth a response; it calls forth the desire for a bigger scandal. Timothy D. Snyder he personality desire television
