John Lewis > Quotes

“But we must accept one central truth and responsibility as participants in a democracy: Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage.”
― John Lewis

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
― John Lewis

“It is the responsibility, yet the individual choice, of each of us to use the light we have to dispel the work of darkness, because if we do not, the power of falsehood rises. Through our inaction it becomes stronger, and a more potent force. It can even lead to the dimming of the light of all humanity born on this planet. That is why we struggle. That is why we fight to contribute to the confirmation of what is good, to seal our compact with love within our own lives and within our world.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“[O]ur revolt was as much against the traditional black leadership structure as it was against segregation and discrimination.”
― John Lewis, March: Book One

“Political parties are on the hunt to search and destroy each other, as though we were involved in some kind of enemy combat, rather than the work of statesmanship.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something.”
― John Lewis

“[People] are beginning to awaken to an idea we gave meaning to in the sixties: We are one people, one family, the human family, and what affects one of us affects us all.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“It is important for upcoming activists to study American history, as well as political and philosophical thought. It is unlikely that what you hope to accomplish is new. Current activism is almost always linked to the history of revolution worldwide, and Americans have a special connection to this legacy because our nation was born out of the struggle against tyranny.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“Fury spends itself pretty quickly when there's no fury facing it.”
― John Lewis

“We came to bring our morality to politics, not to bring politics to our morality.”
― John Lewis, March: Book Three

“To reconcile ourselves with one another, we must release our judgments and make peace with the fact that we are one. This country was founded on the ideal that we are all created equal. If we truly believe in the equality of all humankind, how can we put down and belittle one another? How can we disrespect and prejudge one another? How can we come to the point where we malign and hate one another?”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“Suffering, though, can be nothing more than a sad and sorry thing without the presence on the part of the sufferer of a graceful heart, an accepting and open heart, a heart that holds no malice toward the inflictors of his or suffering This is a difficult concept to understand, and it is even more difficult to internalize, but it has everything to do with the way of nonviolence. We are talking about love here....This is a broader, deeper, more all-encompassing love. It is a love that acepts and embraces the hateful and the hurtful. It is a love that recognizes the spark of the divine in each of us, even in those who would raise their hand against us, those we might call our enemy.”
― John Lewis

“Tragedy is the great equalizer.”
― John Lewis

“Love is a better way.”
― John Lewis

“There are very few people admired in history for the accumulation of wealth alone.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America by John Lewis

“War that is waged for power or dominion over other human beings obscures the inevitable truth that we are all members of one family, and no matter who has conquered whom, who now resents whom, who holds bitterness against whom, the only way we can have true peace is to set aside our injuries and our dedication to revenge and accept our equal divinity.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“But have faith that your good work will be a drop in the river that will eventually break the damn, ushering in a more peaceful world.”
― John Lewis, Carry On Reflections for a New Generation

“Children holding hands, walking with the wind. That is America to me- not just the movement for civil rights, but the endless struggle to respond with decency, dignity, and a sense of brotherhood to all the challenges that face us as a nation, as a whole.”
― John Lewis

“What interests are you trying to protect?”
― John Lewis, Carry On Reflections for a New Generation

“Courage can feel uncomfortable. Courage is not about being popular, it's about purpose.”
― John Lewis, Carry On Reflections for a New Generation

“For me, the nomination of Barack Obama as a candidate for president and his inauguration in Washington represents a brief glimpse at the power and potential of peace.

There was a radiance about America then, a great coming together of so many people, races, generations, and beliefs. For one brief moment in our history, we found a way to put down our strife against one another. For a few days, weeks, and months all the false reasons we use daily to look down on others, to separate ourselves from one another, fell away, and we opened our hearts to the kind of equality that our founders envisioned but did not have the courage to create. In that moment we decided to face the truth of our oneness with one another, and when we did we experienced the beauty of peace.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can you help find solutions to the challenges of our time.”
― John Lewis

“We cannot thrive as a democracy when justice is reserved for only those with means.”
― John Lewis, Carry On Reflections for a New Generation

“I always understood the idea of the ultimate redeemer, Christ on the cross. But now I was beginning to see that this is something that is carried out in every one of us, that the purity of unearned suffering is a holy and affective thing It affects not only ourselves, but it touches and changes those around us as well. It opens us and those around us to a force beyond ourselves, a force that is right and moral, the force of righteous truth that is at the basis of human conscience. Suffering puts us and those around us in touch with our consciences. It opens and touches our hearts. It makes us feel compassion when we need to and guilt if we must.”
― John Lewis

“I meet so many ambitious young politicians and leaders who want to jump to the head of the line. They do not know how we arrived at this point in our history as a nation, but they believe they should be appointed to lead us into the future. They think that because they are educated, articulate, and talented someone should usher them down the red carpet to a throne of leadership. But real leaders are not appointed. They emerge out of the masses of the people and rise to the forefront through the circumstances of their lives. Either their inner journey or their human experience prepares them to take that role. They do not nominate themselves. They are called into service by a spirit moving through a people that points to them as the embodiment of the cause they serve.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

“What is the purpose of a nation if not to empower human beings to live better together than they could individually?”
― John Lewis

“We came to bring our morality to politics, not politics to our morality.”
― John Lewis

“Darkness cannot overcome darkness, only light can do that.”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America by John Lewis

“By appealing to conscience and standing on the moral nature of human existence, nonviolence nurtures the atmosphere in which reconciliation and justice become actual possibilities.”
― John Lewis