“Dès que quelqu'un comprend qu'il est contraire à sa dignité d'homme d'obéir à des lois injustes, aucune tyrannie ne peut l'asservir.”
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Attribution note
A French rendering of Gandhi's genuine civil-disobedience argument in Hind Swaraj (1909); the sentiment is authentically his, but this is a translated paraphrase, not the primary English wording, and it is a foreign-language row.
Likely origin: French translation/paraphrase of an idea from Hind Swaraj (1909): 'If man will only realize that it is unmanly to obey laws that are unjust, no man's tyranny will enslave him.'
Review the attribution sourceAbout this quote
Tyranny runs on obedience it can count on. The moment a person decides that following an unjust rule is itself beneath their dignity, the lever an oppressor depends on snaps — you can still be punished, but you can no longer be truly ruled once you stop agreeing to comply.
When to use it
- An accountant refuses to sign off on cooked books, and the scheme loses the cover it needed to run.
- Warehouse workers quietly stop following a rule that shortchanges customers, and the pressure from above fizzles.
- A resident declines to pay an obviously rigged fee and documents every step, and the shakedown loses its grip.