When [my dad] was at the University of Michigan, my mom was a social-worker. As he rose, he voted for [Adlai] Stevenson initially. Then he voted for [Dwight] Eisenhower. Then he kept voting Republican until he voted for Barack Obama.
BILL AYERSI always say your body is the temple of your spirit, why not decorate it? My kids say, no, no, your body is the temple of your spirit, keep it clean. I’m covered in tattoos and I get a tattoo every time I write a book. I get the tattoo from the book.
More Bill Ayers Quotes
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I dropped out in ’64. And I came back to Michigan, in ’65. In 1965, when I came back I had never heard of Vietnam.
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There was a sense of palpable relief that George [W.] Bush was leaving and that the Republicans had slipped back and that was a wonderful feeling.
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It’s the height of the Cold War, but I grew up in apolitical family and politics wasn’t on the agenda.
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Something about the fact that an African American had, given the long sad history of our country, now become President – that was exhilarating.
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The idea that teaching is somehow the delivery of the goods is such a misunderstanding of what actually goes on.
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We should open our eyes, see what’s in front of us, and act.
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What were the politics of my family? They were mainstream moderate politics.
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Organizing the working class in England or the U.S. or any other advanced capitalist country has been a daunting challenge.
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What we need is a gigantic, messy community conversation about what is teaching and learning for the 21st century. We need to engage communities.
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Hating war in Vietnam in 1965 was minority position.
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Nixon probably was a nice guy.
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I said something idiotic like, as [William] Shakespeare says, “Action is eloquence,” and the judge just frowned at me and gave me a couple weeks in jail.
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Students for a Democratic Society was founded in 1961.
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Education is a right, it’s a journey, it’s a process, and it’s something we have to stand for, as hard as it is.
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So that’s kind of amazing. But he was offered a cabinet post by Eisenhower in his second term. So he was moderate Republican. But if you asked him, he would’ve said, “I don’t have any politics. I’m a business person.” Mainstream, the American view, as he understood it.
BILL AYERS