John Lewis (civil rights leader) Quotes (11 quotes)

John Lewis (civil rights leader): 11 quotes 1 like

Famous John Lewis (civil rights leader) Quotes

“I believe in nonviolence as a way of life, as a way of living.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Academy of Achievement web site http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/lew0pro-1 (url accessed on October 22, 2008)

“I thought I was going to die a few times. On the Freedom Ride in the year 1961, when I was beaten at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, I thought I was going to die. On March 7th, 1965, when I was hit in the head with a night stick by a State Trooper at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death, but nothing can make me question the philosophy of nonviolence.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Academy of Achievement web site http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/lew0pro-1 (url accessed on October 22, 2008)

“Next time we march we may have to keep going when we get to Montgomery. We may have to on to Washington.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Told to New York Times on March 7, 1965 by Lewis, chairman of the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee and organizer of the Selma to Montgomery march after police stopped the demonstrators with violence.
Source: As noted on On This Day, BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/7/newsid_4318000/4318021.stm. (url accessed on October 22, 2008)

“We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

On the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, quoted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in It's Been Real: Scenes from the Capitol in the final showdown over health care reform. http://www.slate.com/id/2248375/ by Christopher Beam, Monday, March 22, 2010, Slate

“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 (civil rights leader)

Source: A tweet https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1011991303599607808 from June 2018
Source: Quoted in Get in good trouble, necessary trouble': Rep. John R. Lewis in his own words https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/18/rep-john-lewis-most-memorable-quotes-get-good-trouble/5464148002/ Joshua Bote, USA Today (18 July 2020)

“I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1266878938049101826, (30 May 2020)

John Lewis (civil rights leader) Quotes

“55 years ago today, we were beaten, tear gassed, and trampled by horses. I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. I don't know how I made it back, but I know we cannot rest. We cannot become weary. We must keep pushing and pulling and find a way to get in the way.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1236392740717543424, (7 March 2020)

Way , Horse , Death , Tear

“We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1234277472776183810, (1 March 2020)

God , Faith , Help , Way

“Our nation is founded on the principle that we do not have kings. We have presidents. And the Constitution is our compass. When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something. Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?'”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

For some, he concluded, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.
Source: Quoted in Impeachment is Over, But Don’t Despair by Diallo Brooks, CounterPunch https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/impeachment-is-over-but-dont-despair/, (7 Feb 2020)

Children

“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1207420638748725250, (30 December 2019)

Fight , Life , Freedom

“Our children and their children will ask us what did you do? What did you say? For some this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader)

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1211661167728480256, (18 December 2019)

Children , History