Before I knew that a man could kill a man, because it happens all the time. Now I know that even the person with whom you've shared food, or whom you've slept, even he can kill you with no trouble. The closest neighbor can kill you with his teeth: that is what I have Learned since the genocide, and my eyes no longer gaze the same on the face of the world.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Being hurt personally triggered a curiosity about how such beliefs are formed.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Every evil starts with 15 volts.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful government.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Heroes are those who can somehow resist the power of the situation and act out of noble motives, or behave in ways that do not demean others when they easily can.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Human behavior is incredibly pliable, plastic.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

If you put good apples into a bad situation, you’ll get bad apples.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?

— Philip G. Zimbardo

Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. Given the force of the group's normative power to shape the opinions of the followers who conform without thinking things through, they are often taken at face value. The persistent minority forces the others to process the relevant information more mindfully. Research shows that the decisions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there is minority dissent than when it is absent.

— Philip G. Zimbardo

One can't live mindfully without being enmeshed in psychological processes that are around us.

— Philip G. Zimbardo