Birmingham Quotes - Page 2

• The words 'bad timing' came to be ghosts haunting our every move in Birmingham. Yet people who used this argument were ignorant of the background of our planning...they did not realize that it was ridiculous to speak of timing when the clock of history showed that the Negro had already suffered one hundred years of delay.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Moving, Years, People

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.48, Beacon Press

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• I grew up in a very loving middle class family. My parents were educators. I'm not even the first PhD in my family. They tried to shield me, just as other parents in my neighborhood tried to shield their children. But you knew there was a reason that you couldn't go to that theme park or to a movie theater or to a hamburger stand. They couldn't shield you completely. What they did though was they never let it be an excuse for not achieving, and they always said racism is somebody else's problem, not yours. They tried in that way not to make us bitter about Birmingham.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Children, Class, Racism

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• People forget that many of the aspects of the Selma campaign were laid out in response to the church bombing in Birmingham.

  Andrew Aydin

  People, Church, Campaigns

  Source: www.mtv.com

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• It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. And there were even black and white Bibles to swear to tell the truth on in many parts of the South.

  Isabel Wilkerson

  Black And White, Play, People

  "Great Migration: The African-American Exodus North". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. September 13, 2010.

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• If you live in Birmingham, then being awake is not necessarily a desirable state.

  Tony Wilson

  States, Awake, Ifs

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• I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Destiny, Atlanta, Ideas

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• In Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool there are white gangs that share the same backgrounds - they come from broken homes, completely dysfunctional, mums for the most part unable to cope, the fathers of these kids completely not in the scene.

  Iain Duncan Smith

  Father, Home, Kids

  "X Factor culture fuelled the UK riots, says Iain Duncan Smith" by Paul Lewis, Patrick Wintour, www.theguardian.com. December 9, 2011.

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• I remember the 70s constantly being winter in Manchester and the Irish community in Manchester closing ranks because of the IRA bombings in Birmingham and Manchester, and you know the bin-workers' strike, all wrapped up in it... They were violent times. Violence at home and violence at football matches.

  Noel Gallagher

  Football, Home, Winter

  "Who wants to be a drug addict at 41?". Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. December 5, 2008.

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• Obviously it's very hard to leave a club that you've supported all your life. But the reason that I've come to Birmingham is that I think Steve Bruce is one of the best young managers in the country and that Birmingham as a club is a sleeping giant.

  David Dunn

  Country, Sleep, Thinking

  "It's a Dunn deal". www.theguardian.com. July 7, 2003.

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• I was in college, but I got kicked out. It was a very free school, but I created a "bad impression." Like I was a bit more fiery in those days. At the time I got kicked out, I knew exactly what I was going to do and didn't even bother to go back for a leaving certificate. Then I was singing in folk clubs around Birmingham and playing jazz in clubs on Sundays.

  Steve Winwood

  School, Sunday, College

  Source: www.rollingstone.com

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• Well I've seen travel in many waysI've traveled in cars and old subwaysBut in Birmingham some people choseTo fly down the street from a fire hose.Doin' some hard travelin'...from hydrants of plenty.

  Phil Ochs

  Fire, People, Car

  Song: Talking Birmingham Jam

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• The argument that the countries use for the sheer increase in Muslim doctors is the sheer increase in the Muslim population. In for example Birmingham, England where a lot of these guys came from, where one of these plots was hatched, it's up to 30% of the population. Maybe that's the problem?

  Neil Cavuto

  Country, Doctors, Guy

  "Universal Healthcare: Terrorist Recruitment Tool", crooksandliars.com, July 6, 2007.

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• Liberals want to set up social welfare committees to help whites and West Indians love each other in Birmingham. But all such efforts are doomed to failure. For the strong the weak are just too much of a temptation; and in all fairness it seems to me quite wicked for black people to have tempted the powerful with so much powerless-ness for so long. The obvious answer is to redress this imbalance in power.

  Lewis Nkosi

  Strong, Powerful, Long

  Lewis Nkosi (1983). “Home and exile and other selections”, Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd

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• Byrd, the former Klu [sic] Klux Klan Kleagle, is taking a stand over states' rights, or his rights over State, or some such. Whatever the reason, the sight of an old Klansman blocking a little colored girl from Birmingham from getting into her office contributed to the general retro vibe that hangs around the Democratic Party these days.

  Mark Steyn

  Girl, Block, Party

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• This is about putting education absolutely in the centre of enterprise and then using the traditions of Birmingham to inspire and grow. If you have knowledge and business linked together you will grow well, you go further down the innovative path and actually you create more and more jobs. Those jobs will only be available for people with skills but they will be real sustainable employments. That is how important innovation is.

  Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham

  Jobs, Real, College

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• She's a skank. He's a player. He's cute but almost OD'd last year, so he's a bad bet. She's a two-faced, lying, cheating witch. That's right, Trina, I'm talking to you," she shouted. "By the way," she added just for me, "Trina cusses, which means cussing is trashy, which means my golden rule is to never cuss. I have class. Unlike Trina, the skank of Birmingham." The last part was, of course, shouted.

  Gena Showalter

  Cute, Cheating, Lying

  Gena Showalter (2013). “Alice in Zombieland”, p.52, Harlequin

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• I don't think I ever saw Hank with anybody, say, 'Let's go write a song.' One Sunday morning we left Nashville to go to Birmingham to do a matinee and a night, and he said, 'Hand me that tablet up there.' And he wrote down, 'Hey, good lookin', what you got cookin'' and before we got to Birmingham it was finished.

  Don Helms

  Song, Morning, Writing

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• Note for Americans and other aliens: Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.

  Neil Gaiman

  Cities, Healthy, London

  Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett (2011). “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”, p.44, Harper Collins

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• All I've got on my iPod is every single Queen song and every single Judas Priest song. Queen were an incredible heavy metal band. I saw them on their first ever tour, at Birmingham Town Hall. They just blew me away.

  Rob Halford

  Song, Queens, Ipods

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• We have taken a major step forward in providing a new high quality education facility at Longbridge. Not only will the new Bournville College shape Birmingham's learning environment, it will also form the first phase of the new Longbridge town centre and, therefore, represents a milestone in a new future for Longbridge.

  Mike Murray

  Taken, College, Quality

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• As far as I'm concerned, that is the end of the matter. We have a big game against Birmingham on Saturday and that is where our focus lies.

  Bryan Robson

  Lying, Games, Focus

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• My family is from Liverpool, so I have some of those vowel sounds, I've got the slack tone of someone from Birmingham, and then I was raised in Bedford, which is just north of London. So my accent, if it's possible, makes even less sense to a Brit than to an American.

  John Oliver

  Sound, Vowels, London

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• A riot is the language of the unheard. On blacks in America; address at Birmingham AL

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  America, Addresses, Als

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• I don't know if that result's enough to life Birmingham off the bottom of the table, although it'll certainly take them above Sunderland

  Mike Ingham

  Soccer, Football, Tables

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• I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Graeco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Jesus, Home, Cities

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