Periyar E. V. Ramasamy quotes

As long as we give room for domination and the dominators, there will be worries and worried people. Poverty and pestilence will live eternally in the country. (Periyar E. V. Ramasamy)
Wisdom lies in thinking. The spear-head of thinking is rationalism. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Capitalists control the machineries. They create difficulties to the workers. Consequently rationalism, which has to lead the way for peaceful life to all, has resulted in causing poverty and worries to the people because of dominating forces. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
By helping the poor, we must be able to remove their poverty. By extending help to one here and one there in the form of providing food will not remove poverty. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
While all men are born as equals, to say that Brahmins alone are the highest and all others are low as Pariah (the Untouchables) or Panchama is sheer nonsense. It is roguish to say so. It is a big hoax played on us. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Marriages should culminate on account of the wishes of the couple. It is their knitting of the hearts that should lead to marriages. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
I want the Brahmins to realize that the Dravidian people today are very much hating those who cunningly cheated them with absurdities. They are now aware of the particular community making a living by spreading the foolishness. People have begun to hate god, religion, caste, mythologies (puranas) and so on. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
You cannot expect any rational thought from a religious man. He is like a rocking log in water. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
A male has the right to wander about as he pleases. He has the right to marry any number of girls. This practice has led to prostitution. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
The word ‘Sudra' which means ‘Son of prostitute' should not find a place even in the history hereafter. We will not allow it to find a place in the dictionary or encycl. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Those who still believe the Brahmins should take a serious not of the changing times and start leading an awakened life. (Periyar E. V. Ramasamy)
Village reform is not merely cleaning the roads, constructing schools and worshipping monasteries. It is not mere celebration of festivals. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Foreigners are sending messages to the planets. We are sending rice and cereals to our dead fore-father through the Brahmins. It is a wise deed? View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
It is absurd to quote religion or God or religious doctrines to render the people as lowest castes. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Man treats woman as his own property and not as being capable of feelings, like himself. The way man treats women is much worse than the way landlords treat servants and the high-caste treat the low-caste. These treat them so demeaningly only in situations mutually affecting them; but men treat cruelly and as slaves, from their birth till death. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Any opposition not based on rationalism or science or experience will one day or other, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies and conspiracies. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Money lending is a horrible profession. If we are to call it otherwise it is lawful plundering. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
There is no use of simply acquiring titles or amassing wealth if one has no self-respect and scientific knowledge. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Man is equal to man. There should not be exploitation. One should help the other. No one should harm anybody. Generally there should be no room for grievance or complaint from anybody. Everyone should live and let others to live, with a national spirit. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Because our ladies mostly attend Kalatshepams, (Religious discourses) they have fallen prey to the superstitions, blind beliefs, and immorality by the false and fictituous propaganda of the Brahmins. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
There is no Brahmin or Sudra (Backard Caste) or Pariah (the Untouchables) in England. In Russia you do not have Varnasrama (Casteism) dharma or fate. (Periyar E. V. Ramasamy)
We do not need to explain how the Aryans entered and settled in the Dravidian country (tira¯vit»a na¯» t»u), and subjugated and oppressed the Dravidians. Nor do we need to explain how before the Aryans entered the Dravidian country, the Dravidian country had a civilization and arts of the highest rank. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
I have not talked of anything to despise the Brahmins, just because they are born as Brahmins. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
We see morality in speeches and writings. We do not find it in practice. We are having different regulations for the males and the females. Our code of conduct is unfair to women. Child marriage is abolished. If there is right to divorce, right for widows to remarry and if women are now given certain rights, we will not see prostitution in the country. It will gradually disappear. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
As there was no open opposition to Aryanism from the beginning, it grew in stages and made us degraded. View quote
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy