Social Justice Quotes

• Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life.

  Albert Einstein

  Justice, Strive, Social

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• No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.

  George Jean Nathan

  Life, Wisdom, Crazy

  George Jean Nathan (1972). “The World in Falseface”, p.21, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

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• If you join a fight for social justice you may win or lose, but just by being part of the struggle, you win, and your life will be better for it.

  Howard Zinn

  Struggle, Fighting, Winning

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  Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

  Margaret Mead

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  Margaret Mead, Robert B. Textor (2005). “The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future”, p.12, Berghahn Books

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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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• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Peace, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.

  Helen Keller

  Women, Responsibility, People

  Helen Keller (2011). “To Live, to Think, to Hope: Inspirational Quotes by Helen Keller”, p.111, Matthew Gordon

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• There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

  Booker T. Washington

  Positive, Strength, Success

  Booker T. Washington (1904*). “Address of Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal & Industrial Institute: Before the National Educational Association, St. Louis, Missouri, June 30, 1904”

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• The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.

  Marian Wright Edelman

  Peace, Justice, Community

  "Leisure as transformation: Volume 4". Book by Christopher R. Edginton, Peter Chen, p. 87, 2008.

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• Freedom is incomplete without social justice.

  Atal Bihari Vajpayee

  Justice, Social, Incomplete

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• Be the change you want to see.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

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• It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

  Robert Kennedy

  Change, Hope, Courage

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

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• History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Sad, Wisdom, Bad Relationship

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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  If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

  Frederick Douglass

  Inspirational, Change, Moving On

  Speech, Canandaigua, N.Y., 4 Aug. 1857

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• In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

  Confucius

  Country, Countries Of The World, Government

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• Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

  Robert Kennedy

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

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  Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

  Nelson Mandela

  Men, Justice, Overcoming

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.141, Simon and Schuster

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• There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Moving On, Powerful

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Feb 14, 2013

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  No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

  Alice Walker

  Friendship, Fake Friends, Memorable

  Alice Walker (2013). “The Alice Walker Collection: Non-Fiction”, p.17, Hachette UK

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• Charity is no substitute for justice. If we never challenge a social order that allows some to accumulate wealth--even if they decide to help the less fortunate--while others are short-changed, then even acts of kindness end up supporting unjust arrangements. We must never ignore the injustices that make charity necessary, or the inequalities that make it possible.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Kindness, Order, Justice

  "Come Hell or High Water". Book by Michael Eric Dyson, www.today.com. 2006.

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• The trouble is that not enough people have come together with the firm determination to live the things which they say they believe.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Determination, Believe, Justice

  Eleanor Roosevelt (1960). “You Learn by Living”, p.129, Westminster John Knox Press

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• As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.

  Chinua Achebe

  Justice, Diversity, Long

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• My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  The Rights of Man pt. 2, ch. 5 (1792)

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• Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

  Frederick Douglass

  Peace, Patriotic, Ignorance

  Speech on the twenty-fourth anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia,Washington, D.C., Apr. 1886

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• They who are to be judges must also be performers.

  Aristotle

  Justice, Judging, Performers

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.274, Aristotle

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