Activism Quotes

If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.

Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.

Democracy comes alive not when government does anything, because government cannot be depended on to rectify serious injustices. It comes alive when people organize and do something about it.

Protest is when I say I don't like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don't like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this anymore. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

The human race is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; but no matter, the crowd follows it.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

In a land where so many have a right to air their opinions and where so many interest are bound to collide and have to be reconciled, unanimity can hardly be expected. We were agreed on the evils but differed on the remedies, and amidst this contention of parties, the very zeal and energy of the best citizens became damaging to the public interest.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

The March on Washington was not a climax but a new beginning.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

If Voting Changed Anything, They’d Abolish It

The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

I was arrested when I was 19 for inciting a riot.

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

I am totally against the war but violence is part of mankind and it's going to happen, but as musicians I think we've got to step up and say 'come on'.

Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.

I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.

In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues ….

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

Make my skin into drumheads for the Bohemian cause.

When I was growing up, my parents were almost involved in various volunteer things. My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that.

Before, the Negro in the South had always looked on the defensive, cringing. This time they were taking the initiative.

I am always on the side of the revolutionists, because there never was a revolution unless there were some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to revolute.