John Lewis Quotes

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

“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?”

“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.”

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

“['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.”

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

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

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

“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.”

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

“I think President Barack Obama has been a good president.”

“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.”