Civil Quotes

When I went to law school, nobody heard of civil rights.

You know, the thing that struck me about Civil War music was how bloody it was; it was full of hatred. There was incredible vitriol in it.

Rosa Parks was a woman of strength, conviction, and morality. Her action on December 1, 1955, to defy the law made her a leading figure in our nation's civil rights history.

When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were middle class white people and all the blacks were still poor. Materially, not much changed.

Press on, press on, men.

Let me say no danger and no hardship ever makes me wish to get back to that college life again.

But it struck me that the extreme violence and cruelty of the English Civil War had gone understated.

When the business interests... pushed through the first installment of civil service reform in 1883, they expected that they would be able to control both political parties equally.

Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.

When people think of slavery, they think of an era from the distant past. Grainy photographs from Civil War times. And yet it goes on.

I think that civil rights issues take a lot of time to develop.

I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.

Confirming John Roberts would endanger much of the progress made by the nation in civil rights over the past half century.

Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.

In a civil war… every side is wrong. It’s hopeless to try to untangle it. Everyone is a victim.

I'm trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader.

If the security forces continue to be dominated as they are now by political groups or sects, then the people won't trust in them - and the result will be civil war or fragmentation of the country.

Activist government overreach and ongoing economic stagnation have shown us why Washington should not try to displace what is best left to civil society.

If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?

The human rights community has focused very narrowly on political and civil rights for many decades, and with reason, but now we have to ask how can we broaden the view.

Unequal group rights, the politics of redistribution and a Constitution whose meaning varies with changeable coalitions are a recipe for civil war.

People are very comfortable when race relations get looked at retrospectively. Slavery, the civil rights movement, etc.

I do not believe that defending traditional marriage between one man and one woman excludes anybody or usurps anybody's civil rights and denies anybody their civil rights.

I covered the Lebanese civil war. I could see a place that had once been prosperous and now was impoverished. I'm not seeing that in America.

You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.

Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society.

My God! My God! What will the country say?

This thing called Patriot Act, through which we abdicated a lot of our civil rights to defend the country against terrorism, it's a four-year story.

You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand.

Well, it's the last step of the Civil Rights Movement: you know, wrap your hands around some money.

The reform [of the civil service] should be thorough, radical, and complete.

Racism has always been able to come up with a scientific veneer.

There's no problem on the planet that can't be solved without violence. That's the lesson of the civil rights movement.

Rarely in my 45 years as a civil rights lawyer have I been so angry about an injustice as I am about what happened to Billy Ray Johnson

Civil rights leaders are involved in helping poor people. That's what I've been doing all my life.

The civil rights movement wasn't easy for anybody.

Atheists in our midst are proof that all consciences can be accommodated here, even those that have no ground for holding that conscience is sacred, inalienable, and prior to civil society.

You are green, it is true; but they are green also. You are all green alike.

I grew up in the South, so a huge part of our American History education revolved around the Civil War.

I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

As President, I have no eyes but constitutional eyes; I cannot see you.

And I'm a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That's the reason it took me 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War.

Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.

It's the most rewarding thing to be a civil servant.

Let me be clear: There is no stronger advocate for civil liberties in the Senate than myself.

The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.

Globilization in its current form cannot deliver the benefits expected of it. Civil society, particularly in developing countries, must ensure that it does.

When I talk to entrepreneurs today, I feel like the grandfather who was in the Civil War.

We are fighting for the right to live as free humans in this society. In fact, we are actually fighting for rights that are even greater than civil rights and that is human rights.