Civil Rights Quotes

A freedom given up is not so easily regained.

People believe what they want to believe. Even if it isn’t true.

It [freedom] rings bells to remind humanity that the most precious gifts in life––like children and love and time––must never be taken for granted.

Freedom rings bells to wake us from the comfort of beautiful dreams and empower the efforts that turn them into reality.

Adoptees deserve open records because deception and partial truths do not set us free.

Political correctness’ is a label the privileged often use to distract from their privilege and hate.

Capitalism is not a form of government. Capitalism is a symptom of freedom. It is the result of individual rights, which include property rights.

[T]he full and complete development of a country, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fi

If the system were designed to protect adoptees, why do so many have to fight for their rights?

Lush, detailed, total-immersion storytelling.–Kirkus Review

A tense account of the perils facing those who sought freedom in the lead-up to the Civil War.

Global betterment is a mental process, not one that requires huge sums of money or a high level of authority. Change has to be psychological.

Never stand in the way of letting God use people’s actions, in order to solve a greater issue in the world.

Principles are meant to serve people, not people serving to uphold the principle, while harming the people.

People often call fighting discrimination being 'PC' because they don't want their own unearned privileges challenged.

The missing link between humans and apes? It's certainly those brutes who haven't yet learned to respect privacy.

How did I make a living? I haven't. I have eked out an existence." - Ella Baker

The "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" begins with "life", and "life" begins at conception.

I am an educated black woman in a time when educated black people will be called upon to risk everything for the rights of black people everywhere.

Mental illness is not something you misunderstand in this era. Get educated because bias is no different than racism.

The 20th Century proved that there is nothing more dangerous to the health of ethnic minority communities than big government.

There are no secrets on the Internet

A voteless people is a hopeless people.

My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.

The civil rights movement in the United States was about the same thing, about equality of treatment for all sections of the people, and that is precisely what our movement was about.

A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens.

There are turning points in everyone's life when we have to fight, even if we have to do it by ourselves and in public.

I didn't change. The Democratic Party slid to the Left from right under me.

Senator John Stennis:The civil rights movement did more to free the white man that the black man. ... It freed my soul.

Get off of my shoulders. The foundation has been laid, now its time for you to build on it and get to work.

[We're] going to change the world. One day they'll write about us. You'll see.

Gospel music is nothing but singing of good tidings -- spreading the good news. It will last as long as any music because it is sung straight from the human heart.

If not us, then who?If not now, then when?

If not now, then when?

Racist legacy laws and modern racist practices are all part of the same system, and it needs to be changed now.

I'm hurting because the color of my skin makes me perfect for their target practice.

every time this happensI see my fathermy brothermy would be sonI see myselfstop killing us

I was brought up by people who loved others. I love people. We had no animosity. We had no feeling that we hate anyone.

When we love children, we acknowledge by our every action that they are not property, that they have rights - that we respect and uphold their rights.

The greatest evil in our country today is...ignorance...We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.

As day is to a sword, night is to a shield.

Non Violence and Religion: Both designed to keep the oppressed from murdering their oppressors.

Our situation is intolerable, but what's worseis to sit here and do nothing.

Right isn't always legal.

Racism is dead only to those who've closed their eyes and ears to the whole world around them.

The price of conviction has never been cheap, but it will always be worth it.

You can either have individual liberty, or dependence on the government. One is designed to undo the other.

I am groping about through this American forest of prejudice and proscription, determined to find some form of civilization where all men will be accepted for what they are worth.

I consider myself an American African because we did not come by choice.

A Black church that isn't inherently revolutionary is irrelevant.