Civil Rights Quotes

Justice is indivisible. You can't decide who gets civil rights and who doesn't.

Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind.

The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood.

The day for the Negro man being a coward is over.

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

When I hear someone’s in the civil rights business, I oil up my AR-25.

Civil liberties victories never stay won, but must be fought for over and over again.

We have to "walk the walk" not just "talk the talk".

The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.

We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.

There are a million Negroes in Mississippi. I think they'll take care of me.

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

Slowly we have lifeted ourselves by our own bootstraps. Step by halting step, we have beat our way back

We, who are the living, possess the past. Tomorrow is for our martyrs.

The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die

I would not open windows into men's souls.

Evil societies always kill their consciences.

Being able to laugh got me through.

We must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the acclamation.

Without justice, there can be no peace.

Would America have been America without her Negro people?

As far as I am concerned, freedom summer never really ended.

In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.

Few whites are ready to actively promote civil rights for blacks.

We need to talk with each other, honestly, simply, caringly.

I think I came here as a priest... The priest is more concerned with heresy than with sin; sins can be forgiven; heresy must be eliminated.

I've never been afraid to step out and to reach out and to move out in order to make things happen.

The minorities have been confined to the city by a moat of bigotry.

Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.

It's not easy to be a martyr in the field of race relations.

When people are forced to interact to survive, their prejudices diminish.

It is my hope that the pagan media and academic establishment will implode on the force of its own corruption and stagnation.

As long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive.

We've talked more about civil rights after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than we talked about it before 1964.

There was no miracle that night.

The failures of the past must not be an excuse for the inaction of the present and the future.

We don't go for segregation. We go for separation. Separation is when you have your own. You control your own economy; you control your own politics; you control your own society; you control your own everything.

None of the modes by which a magistrate is appointed, popular election, the accident of the lot, or the accident of birth, affords, as far as we can perceive, much security for his being wiser than any of his neighbours. The chance of his being wiser than all his neighbours together is still smaller.

If I were an Arab-American, I would insist on being profiled. This is not the time for civil rights. There are larger issues for Americans.

Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.

It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.

I... [am] convinced [man] has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

The advent of the civil rights movement during the 50s and 60s made it very plain crystal clear to me that we had an obligation to do what we could to make real the Constitution of the United States of America.

Racism has always been able to come up with a scientific veneer.

We cannot sit around and talk about the beloved community.

Psychologically, I'm a Roman Baptist.

I was involved in the civil rights movement way back in the late '50s and through the '60s and '70s. I was doing a civil rights musical here in Los Angeles and we sang at one of the rallies where Dr. Martin Luther King spoke, and I remember the thrill I felt when we were introduced to him. To have him shake your hand was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Even before I could vote, I was involved in the political arena.

It was the Democrats who were against civil rights legislation

We must protect the right of our opponents to speak because we must hear what they have to say.

The black revolt is as palpable in letters as it is in the streets.