John Lewis Quotes

“You have to go with your gut sometimes, and how you feel.”

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

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

“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.”

“There are still forces in America that want to divide us along racial lines, religious lines, sex, class. But we've come too far; we've made too much progress to stop or to pull back. We must go forward. And I believe we will get there.”

“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.”

“Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.”

“I think putting the United States down across the world is not something that a responsible person does.”

“Many of us in Nashville accepted nonviolence as a way of life, a way of living, not simply as a technique or a tactic.”

“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.”

“The vote is precious. It's almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before.”

“When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn't become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville, as a student.”

“The action of Rosa Parks, the words and leadership of Dr. King inspired me. I was deeply inspired. I wanted to do something.”

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

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

“Nonviolence is one of those immutable principles that we cannot and must not deviate from.”

“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.”

“People must understand that people were beaten, arrested, jailed, and some people were murdered, while attempting to register to vote, or to get others to register to vote.”

“I would like to think that we have made much more progress, that we've come much further, to have someone like a Donald Trump to emerge as the nominee of a major political party.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Young people can understand, and must understand, that we had success, we had failures, but we never gave up. We never gave in. We never became bitter. We didn't hate. We continued to press on. And that's what we're saying: There are some ups, there are some downs, and when you're not down, you must have the capacity and the ability to get up and keep going.”

“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.”

“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.”

“We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just... do something about it. Say something. Have the courage. Have the backbone. Get in the way. Walk with the wind. It's all going to work out.”

“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.”

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

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

“John Lewis stood up and said in an interview that Donald Trump was not a legitimate president. It's insanity.”

“[Donald Trump's inauguration] will be the first one that I miss since I've been in Congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.”

“I think the administration can do a lot of good by telling folks that are on their side of the aisle, look, we may have lost the election on the Democrat side, but it's time to come together.”

“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.”

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

“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 have to be persistent.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

“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 would say the country is a different country. It is a better country. The signs I saw when I was growing up are gone and they will not return. In many ways the walls of segregation have been torn down.”

“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.”

“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.”

“It's a shame and a disgrace that so few people take part in the political process.”

“We have had a great relationship with the White House.We just had every cabinet person designee of ours meet with the cabinet members of the [Barack] Obama administration on Friday. I've met numerous times with Denis McDonough, they've been nothing but helpful.”

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

“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.”

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