Civil Rights Quotes

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  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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  It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less

  Susan B. Anthony

  Strong Women, Equality, White

  Motto of The Revolution (newspaper), 8 Jan. 1868

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  The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Strength to Love (1963) ch. 3

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• 

  Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Atlanta Magazine, April 2008.

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• 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.

  Mary Frances Berry

  Hippie, Mean, Opportunity

  "Civil Rights Commission Chair Highlights Celebration of Martin Luther King's Life". newsinfo.iu.edu. January 15, 2002.

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• Through electing officials that will protect the Constitution and commit themselves to the rights of the people and the health of the nation, we will be able to ensure that no group of ideologues and no private sector institution can coopt our rights, take us into senseless wars and steal the nation from its people.

  Harry Belafonte

  War, Rights, People

  12 Copy quote

• I don't say that the supposed Civil Rights development is a myth, but it's a matter of dealing with reality. It's purely peripheral and, in many cases, it's just a facade.

  Norman Granz

  Reality, Rights, Development

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Paul Farmer

  Rights, Views, Community

  3 Copy quote

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

  Ralph Neas

  Past, Rights, Progress

  3 Copy quote

• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• If Willie Nelson had been Rosa Parks, there never would have been a civil rights movement in this country, because he refuses to leave the back of the bus.

  Kinky Friedman

  Country, Hippie, Rights

  3 Copy quote

• Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as our prince of peace, of civil rights. We owe him something major that will keep his memory alive.

  Morgan Freeman

  Kings, Memories, Rights

  3 Copy quote

• Mrs. Parks was a shy, soft spoken woman who was uncomfortable being revered as a symbol of the civil rights movement. She only hoped to inspire young people to achieve great things.

  Jim Costa

  Moving, Rights, People

  3 Copy quote

• The Court today completes the process of converting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from a guarantee that race or sex will not be the basis for often will.

  Antonin Scalia

  Sex, Hippie, Rights

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• 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.

  John Shimkus

  Hippie, Rights, Law

  3 Copy quote

• What drew me to both study and activism was the formative experience of the civil rights movement.

  David Price

  Hippie, Rights, Movement

  3 Copy quote

• As a civil rights leader, Mrs. King's vision of racial peace and nonviolent social change was a fortifying staple in advancing the civil rights movement.

  James T. Walsh

  Change, Kings, Rights

  3 Copy quote

• It was to carry the American democratic journey beyond these failings that Black citizens and civil rights workers risked unemployment, violence and death.

  Elijah Cummings

  Journey, Rights, Hymns

  3 Copy quote

• 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.

  Jonathan Lethem

  Hippie, Artist, Rights

  3 Copy quote

• Health care is not a privilege. It's a right. It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education.

  Rod Blagojevich

  Children, Rights, Giving

  4 Copy quote

• By 1962, King had become, by the media's reckoning, the new civil rights leader.

  Constance Baker Motley

  Leadership, Kings, Rights

  3 Copy quote

• 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

  Morris Dees

  Rights, Years, Rays

  3 Copy quote

• Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.

  James Meredith

  Mean, Rights, Class

  68 Copy quote

• I don't call myself a white supremacist. I'm a civil rights activist concerned about European-American rights.

  David Duke

  Rights, Europe, White

  227 Copy quote

• Anyone who said he wasn't afraid during the civil rights movement was either a liar or without imagination. I was scared all the time. My hands didn't shake but inside I was shaking.

  James L. Farmer, Jr.

  Liars, Lying, Rights

  20 Copy quote