Eugene V. Debs Quotes

Taro taught me that people respect spirit, but even cowards don't respect cowards.

Anyone who wants to be truly free must be willing to stand alone in the truth.

I fight if I need to, I dance if I need to, yet I won't compromise my integrity and pride.

He who fears to venture as far as his heart urges and his reason permits, is a coward; he who ventures further than he intended to go, is a slave.

I'd never allow myself to let myself call myself a coward.

It is bad for the soul to know itself a coward, it is apt to take refuge in mere wordy violence.

Virtue is the truest liberty.

It is the hero alone, not the coward, who has liberation within his easy reach.

I was a prisoner, but I always felt free because I was not frightened So for me real freedom is freedom from fear.

I hate cowardice; I will have nothing to do with cowards or political nonsense.

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

I just felt that 'Golden Balls' was the right thing to do. I didn't care if people thought I was a failure.

Movements begin when oppressed people make - and keep remaking - a deeply inward decision to stop consenting to external demands that contradict a critical inner truth, the truth that they are worthy of respect.

No more duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions.

I was not afraid of what I did not like. To overcome dislike of a thing often satisfied one's feeling of honour.

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.

I would rather a thousand times be a free soul in jail than to be a sycophant and coward in the streets. If it had not been for the men and women who, in the past, have had the moral courage to go to jail, we would still be in the jungles.

I am a man of peace. God knows how I love peace. But I hope I shall never be such a coward as to mistake oppression for peace.

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.

Now on life's dreary plain. We must wait, like the Stoic, Brave, enduring, and strong, Till the soul's strength heroic Bend the fetters of wrong

I do not wish to be melodramatic, but at some point I have to say it. If something bad should happen to me, I want you to know that my commitment to what I am doing has been freely contracted, with the joy of knowing that this is precisely what I should be doing at this moment. Fear is constantly present in each one of us, because none of us are movie heroes. But we refuse to accept that fear must condition our actions and prevent us from doing what with a cool head and fervent heart we understand should be done.

We don’t get to use our names, but we do get to fight for our beliefs.

I am ready to rot in jail that art may live.

I'm always fighter. I'm always fighter first. I voice that opinion, which sometimes gets me in trouble, but as long as you're true to yourself, you're going to be all right.

The state of Alabama can take my freedom, the state of Alabama can take my future, but the state of Alabama cannot take my joy.