“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)

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Do you have more details about the quote "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 …" by John Lewis (civil rights leader)?

John Lewis (civil rights leader) 11

American politician and civil rights leader 1940

Eloisa James (1962) American academic

Source: When Beauty Tamed the Beast

“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) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

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

“In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low,
And the cardinal hits the window.
In the morning in the winter shade,
On the first of March, on the holiday,
I thought I saw you breathing.”

Sufjan Stevens (1975) American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

"Casimir Pulaski Day"
Lyrics, Illinois (2005)

“I said he kissed me. Really kissed me. It rocked me to my soul. It was brutal. It was brilliant. It was horrible. I thought I was going to die.”

Margaret Way (1900) Australian romance fiction writer

Source: Genni's Dilemma

“Just when I thought I was learning how to live, 'twas then I realized I was learning how to die.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“I’ve never once thought about how I was going to die,” she said. “I can’t think about it. I don’t even know how I’m going to live.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“I never go for home runs. I haven't tried to hit one since 1960 when I thought I had a chance to hit 20.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

After hitting 2 home runs off Don Drysdale—the second and deciding one coming four pitches after being decked by Drysdale, presumably in response to the first—and driving in all 4 runs in a 4-1 Pirate win, as quoted in "Clemente's Bat Dumps Bums" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CYNPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cSQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5013%2C4959243 by Joe Carnicelli (UPI), in The Hendersonville Times-News (Monday, June 5, 1967); p. 9
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

“I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), I Philosophy
Variant: While I thought I have been learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.

“Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball.”

Magic Johnson (1959) American basketball player

Then & Now: Magic Johnson http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/01/17/cnn25.tan.johnson/index.html

“I hit it good and thought it was going over the wall when it left my bat,”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted and paraphrased in "Clemente Shows He's Bat-Man: Hitting Mets Like Robbin' for Roberto" by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Monday, May 2, 1966), p. 35
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1966</big>
Context: "I hit it good and thought it was going over the wall when it left my bat," he observed. Clemente also said this is the fifth time he has hit a ball that was within inches of clearing the fence at the 436-foot sign—two against the Dodgers and two against the Braves.

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John Lewis (civil rights leader) 11

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