Civil Rights Quotes

• 

  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

  888 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  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

  129 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  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

  1103 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

• The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  July, Flames, Too Much

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.218

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Interesting, Freedom Of Speech

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.192, Rowman & Littlefield

  196 Copy quote

  Show source

• I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

  Ronald Reagan

  Funny, Rights, Politics

  Ronald Reagan (1968). “I goofed: the wise and curious sayings of Ronald Reagan, 33rd Governor of California”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having their legs off, and then being condemned for being a cripple.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Children, Growing Up, Pain

  2 Copy quote

• The right to freedom of expression is justified first of all as the right of an individual purely in his capacity as an individual. It derives from the widely accepted premise of Western thought that the proper end of man is the realization of his character and potentialities as a human being.

  Thomas I. Emerson

  Character, Acceptance, Men

  2 Copy quote

• The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.

  William O. Douglas

  Government, Libertarian Party, America

  "The Court years, 1939-1975: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas‎". Book by William O. Douglas, 1980.

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Communication, Writing, Liberty

  14 Copy quote

• I'm the world's original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Thinking, Years, World

  16 Copy quote

• Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.

  Harry S. Truman

  Government, Population, Individual

  1945 Speech to Congress, 6 Sep.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• I speak not for myself, but so those without a voice can be heard. Those who have fought for their rights. Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.

  Malala Yousafzai

  Inspiring, Opportunity, Equality

  Malala Yousafzai's Speech to the UN General Assembly, www.independent.co.uk. July 12, 2013.

  63 Copy quote

  Show source

• the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Law, Majority Rule

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.

  William O. Douglas

  Teaching, Rights In America, Political Revolution

  "The One Un-American Act". William O. Douglas' speech to the Author's Guild Council in New York on receiving the 1951 Lauterbach Award, December 3, 1952.

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot.

  Horace Greeley

  Men, Rights, Feet

  27 Copy quote

• Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Majority Rule, Tyranny Of The Majority, Minorities

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Trust, Rights, Government

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.106, Rowman & Littlefield

  35 Copy quote

  Show source

• In giving rights to others which belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Rights, Giving

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.703, Best Books on

  2 Copy quote

  Show source

• The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Way, Causes, Problem

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

  37 Copy quote

  Show source

• I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Anchors, Law

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1859). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence”, p.71

  82 Copy quote

  Show source

• No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, America, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Lying, Government, Law

  "Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 477". Dissenting opinion, 1921.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source