Civil Rights Activist Quotes

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

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

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.

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.

[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 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.

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.

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.

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

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

When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come walk in my shoes and I will show you change.

I believe in forgiveness; I believe in trying to work with people.

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

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

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

When you make mistakes, when you're wrong, you should admit you're wrong and ask people to forgive you.

But you have to have hope. You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward.

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

Black men and women were not allowed to register to vote. My own mother, my own father, my grandfather and my uncles and aunts could not register to vote because each time they attempted to register to vote, they were told they could not pass the literacy test.

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.

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.

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.

Obama is not an African American president, but a president of all Americans. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, Hispanic, he's the president of all races.

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.

When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.

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.

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.

I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.

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

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

It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something.

We must be headlights and not taillights.

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?

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

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

I truly believe that one day we will get there, we will arrive. And if we do it right in America, maybe, just maybe, we can serve 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.

I believe that you see something that you want to get done, you cannot give up, and you cannot give in.

['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.

I think President Barack Obama has been a good president.

We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house... and through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. For hate is too heavy a burden to bear.

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

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.

I grew up very poor in rural Alabama.

The vote controls everything that you do.

What 'March' is saying is that it doesn't matter whether we are black or white, Latino or Asian. It doesn't matter whether we are straight or gay.

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

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.

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.