Civil Rights Quotes

The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die

Any violation of civil rights will be aggressively pursued and prosecuted by my administration. No one will be above the law.

If only women are talking about women's rights, then the issue has failed from the start. If you think about the Holocaust, that wasn't just a Jewish issue. Civil rights weren't just a black issue.

I would not open windows into men's souls.

I never thought I'd see the day that I would see white folks as frightened, or more so, than black folks was during the civil rights movement when we was in Mississippi.

Civil rights laws were not passed to protect the rights of white men and do not apply to them.

Evil societies always kill their consciences.

Black lives, of course, matter. I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights and for dignity, but if you don't want me to be here, that's OK. I don't want to out-scream people.

Given a thimbleful of [dramatic] facts we rush to make generalizations as large as a tub.

My parents demonstrated against the Vietnam war, they were into the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, they started the first vegetarian restaurant in Pittsburgh.

Civil Rights opened the windows. When you open the windows, it does not mean that everybody will get through. We must create our own opportunities.

The chance to own a home; chance to own an education; chance to get access to capital. This is the real civil rights battle of the twenty-first century.

LISTEN: If you ever wondered what you would do if you were alive in the Civil Rights Movement, NOW IS THE TIME to find out. NOW. RIGHT NOW.

When you're fighting for civil rights, it's sometimes two steps forward and one step back. Civil rights are an evolution; and you have to bring people along.

Now liberals compare their every riot, every traffic blockage, every Starbucks-window-smashing street protest to the civil rights movement -- which was only necessary because of them.

The crucial role communists played in organizing industrial unions in the 1930s and struggling for social reforms, peace, and civil rights strengthened rather then undermined democratic forces.

Without justice, there can be no peace.

Would America have been America without her Negro people?

We must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the acclamation.

Being able to laugh got me through.

Everything hinges on education. Without it, you can't advocate for proper health care, for housing, for a civil rights bill that ensures your rights.

My great grandmother threw herself in front of a bus. The police tried to say she was committed suicide but the family knew she was just trying to stop civil rights.

Slavery is a memory of something we cannot remember, and yet we cannot forget.

We must protect the civil rights of American citizens - African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and all Americans - by ensuring that their jobs, wages, and well-being come first.

In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.

I am very proud of the fact that I led the arts contingent on the civil rights march in the summer of '63. In many ways, I think it was the high-water mark of the civil rights movement.

As far as I am concerned, freedom summer never really ended.

Few whites are ready to actively promote civil rights for blacks.

Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.

We shall find that every effort to realize equality necessitates a sacrifice of liberty.

The civil rights movement was devoid of grace; it was using some unfortunate people as means to a communistic end.

We need to talk with each other, honestly, simply, caringly.

I think I came here as a priest... The priest is more concerned with heresy than with sin; sins can be forgiven; heresy must be eliminated.

Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights around the world. She will be missed.

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement.

You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.

The arts and a belief in the values of the civil rights movement, in the overwhelming virtue of diversity, these were our religion. My parents worshipped those ideals.

In fact, James Meredith who was once the icon of the civil rights movement. He supported me for governor!

The minorities have been confined to the city by a moat of bigotry.

Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.

The so-called civil rights movement as it exists today is used as a Communist program for revolution in America.

I think the legacy of the civil rights movement is that now whites are more open to being represented by people of color or people who are women or, again, non-traditional candidates.

I've never been afraid to step out and to reach out and to move out in order to make things happen.

The Civil Rights Movement also reaffirmed me as a singer. It taught me that singing was not entertainment, it was something else.

As long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was vigorously and vociferously opposed by the Southern states. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law nonetheless.

All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. King for his bravery and commitment to civil rights and nonviolence that changed this nation - and world - for the better.

It is my hope that the pagan media and academic establishment will implode on the force of its own corruption and stagnation.

It's not easy to be a martyr in the field of race relations.

When people are forced to interact to survive, their prejudices diminish.