John Lewis Quotes

I happen to believe that this election year [2016] is...one of the most important elections that we're going to face in a very long time. I know we hear from time to time that every election is important. This one is very, very important.

Sometimes you have to not just dream about what could be - you get out and push and you pull and you preach. And you create a climate and environment to get those in high places, to get men and women of good will in power to act.

There may be some difficulties, some interruptions, but as a nation and as a people, we are going to build a truly multiracial, democratic society that maybe can emerge as a model for the rest of the world.

You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way... to get in the way.

Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it.

Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble... good trouble, necessary trouble.

You have to be persistent.

The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.

Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.

I would say to a young person: continue to study. Study what is taking place in your community, in your neighborhood, maybe at your school.

It is my hope that people today will see that, in another time, in another period, when we saw the need for people to speak up, to organize, to mobilize, and to do something about injustice, we came together.

I think right now, the focus has got to be on how we hold [Donald] Trump accountable.

We built a coalition of conscience, and that we can do it again, and we can go forward, and help redeem the soul of America.

Listening to Dr. King on the radio inspired me. Coming under the influence of Jim Lawson inspired me to think that I, too, could do something.

What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and its grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.

I think all Americans should be hopeful, and try to be optimistic.

You have to have the capacity and the ability to take what people did, and how they did it, and forgive them and move on.

Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.

Sometimes I feel like crying, tears of happiness, tears of joy, to see the distance we've come and the progress we've made.

There is a need for a movement of non-violent direct action.

We should be creative, and we should accommodate the needs of every community to open up the democratic process. We should make it easy and accessible for every citizen to participate.

I believe race is too heavy a burden to carry into the 21st century. It's time to lay it down. We all came here in different ships, but now we're all in the same boat.

We live in a country where we're supposed to have freedom of the press and religious freedom, but I think to some degree, there's a sense of fear in America today, that if you say the wrong thing, what some people will consider what is wrong, if you step out of line, if you dissent, whether you be an entertainer, that somehow and some way this government or the forces to be will come down on you.

Sometimes I hear people saying, 'Nothing has changed.' Come and walk in my shoes.

Well, what Cory Booker and John Lewis are right about is to talk about the racist past of Donald Trump.

To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process.

I'm gonna say that I have followed every presidential campaign since the campaign of President [John F.] Kennedy in 1960.

This man [ Donald Trump] won in an electoral landslide.

I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.

For a person [like John Lewis] that is a champion of voter rights to question whether or not Donald Trump legitimately won an election or not is an incredible position to take five days before an inauguration.

Our struggle is a struggle to redeem the soul of America. It's not a struggle that lasts for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. It is the struggle of a lifetime, more than one lifetime.

My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers.

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.

You have to tell the whole truth, the good and the bad, maybe some things that are uncomfortable for some people.

I think my whole life has been one of sort of daring, and sort of sailing against the wind instead of just going with the wind.

I think President Barack Obama has been a good president.

I don't have any extraordinary gifts. I'm just an average Joe who grew up very poor in rural Alabama.

I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. I met Dr. [Martin Luther] King when I was 18. These two individuals inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble. So I got in good trouble, necessary trouble.

DNI director [James] Clapper said as much many, many times, that there is no evidence that any outcome of the election was changed.

You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.

President-elect [Donald] Trump won 30 of 50 states, more counties since Ronald Reagan.

['March'] is a path you must take if you want to move from one point to another point. If you want to make it down this very long and troublesome road, follow this path. Follow this message. Follow this map. And you will get there some day.

You cannot give up - you have to be persistent and keep pushing, and press on.

I couldn't say no to A. Philip Randolph and no to Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men, I loved them, I admired them, and they were my heroes.

What has been doing in the last week, attacking Hollywood actresses [Meryl Streep] for criticizing him, I mean what would is this guy [Donald Trump] living in?

In spite of all of the things, the issues, that we may be confronting today, I'm very hopeful, very optimistic about the future.

When I was a student, I studied philosophy and religion. I talked about being patient. Some people say I was too hopeful, too optimistic, but you have to be optimistic just in keeping with the philosophy of non-violence.

Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.

Right now what my job is, and I think the job of Democrats and Republicans, is to protect the middle class and working families of this country from some devastating ideas that [Donald] Trump has proposed.

If we must grind up human flesh and bones in the industrial machine that we call modern America, then, before God, I assert that those who consume the coal and you and I who benefit from that service, because we live in comfort, we owe protection to those men first and we owe security for their families if they die.

Be prepared to organize nonviolent workshops - a teach-in around what is happening in America today. Organize your teachers and schoolmates, and be prepared to engage in some action.

Today, we have come a distance. We have made a lot of progress. That cannot be denied. You cannot dispute the fact that our country is so different from 50 years ago. But we still have problems. There are too many people that have been left out and left behind, and they are African American, they are White, Latino, Asian American, and Native American.

We are one people; we are only family. And when we finally accept these truths, then we will be able to fulfill Dr. King's dream to build a beloved community, a nation, and a world at peace with itself.

The party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater.

Customs, traditions, laws should be flexible, within good reason, if that is what it takes to make our democracy work.

I travel all the time, but when I come back to the South, I see such progress. In a real sense, a great deal of the South has been redeemed. People feel freer, more complete, more whole, because of what happened in the movement.

We need someone who is going to stand up, speak up, and speak out for the people who need help, for the people who have been discriminated against.

If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you're consistent, you will succeed.

Without the Sisters of St. Joseph, I might not be standing here.

Before we went on any protest, whether it was sit-ins or the freedom rides or any march, we prepared ourselves, and we were disciplined. We were committed to the way of peace - the way of non-violence - the way of love - the way of life as the way of living.