Activist Quotes

"All men are created equal. Now matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about."

Harvey Milk

"I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you...And you...And you...Gotta give em hope."

Harvey Milk

"Beauty is not who you are on the outside, it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul, like you."

Shannon L. Alder

"Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first."

Shannon L. Alder

"Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war."

Norman Mailer

"Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice."

Criss Jami, Healology

"Truth is not fully explosive, but purely electric. You don't blow the world up with the truth; you shock it into motion."

Criss Jami, Healology

"To sum it up, succuss is merely a small act of courageousness."

Kierra C.T. Banks

"Our work is not about transcending this world to get to a better place; our work is to be fully present here; to heal ourselves, and our planet in the spirit of service and compassion."

Eileen Anglin

"Real women fight for something, other than their own emotions."

Shannon L. Alder

"There comes a time in your life when you can no longer put off choosing. You have to choose one path or the other. You can live safe and be protected by people just like you, or you can stand up and be a leader for what is right. Always, remember this: People never remember the crowd; they remember the one person that had the courage to say and do what no one would do."

Shannon L. Alder

"Borders are scratched across the hearts of men, by strangers with a calm, judicial pen, and when the borders bleed we watch with dread the lines of ink along the map turn red."

Marya Mannes

"Are you going to cater to the whims and prejudices of people who have no intelligent knowledge of what they condemn?"

Susan B. Anthony Collection

"[We're] going to change the world. One day they'll write about us. You'll see."

Viola Gregg Liuzzo

"Gospel music is nothing but singing of good tidings -- spreading the good news. It will last as long as any music because it is sung straight from the human heart."

Mahalia Jackson

"You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation."

Marian Wright Edelman

"Without Christ a people may always have the freedom to do, but never the power to complete."

Criss Jami, Healology

"We often fear that the Revolution needed is too big for what we can give.Too much change is required inside, outside.And we are too small.But all that is required is that you step into the truth of your life. And speak it, write it, paint it, dance it.That you shine your light on your truth, for the world to see.And as hundreds, then thousands, then millions do this – each sparking the courage of yet more – Suddenly we have a world alight with truth."

Lucy H. Pearce, Burning Woman

"Disobedience to rigid laws is a revolutionary act."

Lailah Gifty Akita

"Oh external worshiper, know that worship without heart is motions. Oh seeker of knowledge, know that knowledge without purification is a dangerous weapon of the ego. Oh activist, know that work without orientation of heart is fruitless. Oh lover, know that love without God is pain."

Yasmin Mogahed

"New concepts should be introduced by the power of imagery."

Douglas Coop

"During the flames of controversy, opinions, mass disputes, conflict, and world news, sometimes the most precious, refreshing, peaceful words to hear amidst all the chaos are simply and humbly 'I don't know."

Criss Jami, Killosophy

"Dignity is never silent. It has a voice, heart and soul. Truth and courage is its foundation. It will stand against the masses and speak the truth. Because every great person has always done what others found fear in doing."

Shannon L. Alder

"God has a way of picking a “nobody” and turning their world upside down, in order to create a “somebody” that will remove the obstacles they encountered out of the pathway for others."

Shannon L. Alder

"If you can't tell from my rap lyrics already, yes I am a feminist. And when I'm saying "hoe" or "bitch" I am actually referring to men. ...That sounded bad, in someway. But at the end of the day, I'm sick of rappers using "bitches" and "hoes" as terms towards women. Feminists are NOT a hate group. Feminists are not all female. Nor has it got an anti-male agenda. It's about equality! I've had a weird, special bond with women since I was a kid. And it's just a shame really that I'm gay."

scott mcgoldrick

"For a man who makes his salvation perfect through suffering, is more of a saint and a loving hero of nature."

Auliq Ice

"Words are fossilized butterfly wings,pretty to look at sometimes,but only good for Museums.I want to miserably burn down the Museums."

Jeremiah Walton

"Our wishes become real and solid if we work on their formation. If it matters to you, make energy become matter."

Patricia Robin Woodruff

"If you had the option to pray for me or fight with me, you better choose the fight."

Darnell Lamont Walker

"Before you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other theology, learn to be human first."

Shannon L. Alder

"In order to master compassion, you have to spend time getting to know monsters. When you can do that you will see that there are no monsters, only people that acted like monsters because no one gave them the time or compassion to hear their story."

Shannon L. Alder

"It is not what you leave to your children that matters, but what you leave in them."

Shannon L. Alder, 300 Questions to Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late

"I could not feel, smell, see, hear, or taste the world around me. If I had allowed myself to experience these things in all their intensity, I might have lost my mind. If I had allowed myself to cry, I might never have been able to stop. So I survived, but I never felt joy, never felt safe."

Yeonmi Park, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

"The goal for most people should not be to feel better, but to get better at feeling."

Shannon L. Alder

"The problem will never be diversity, the challenging of tradition or the one person that questions the way life should be. The person that shows the world that this is wrong, there is a perspective you didn't consider, this is worth fighting for and being different is a blessing, will always be the solution for change."

Shannon L. Alder

"Only until all human beings begin to recognize themselves as human beings will prejudice be gone forever. People ask me what race I am, but there is no such thing as race. I just answer: "I’m a member of the human race."

Amelia Boynton Robinson

"Strength of character comes from being hit by stray verbal stones, while protecting discarded ciphers in the snow."

Shannon L. Alder

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."

H.L. Mencken

"Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another."

Yuri Kochiyama

"If you join the rat race — you're in the race of rats."

Bertolt Brecht

"Don’t be a witness. Be an activist."

DaShanne Stokes

"As a human rights activist it is concerning to me that those committing atrocities against vulnerable people view these atrocities as 'progress', and assert with pride and conviction that they are 'Christians' and that they are doing 'God's will'."

Christina Engela, The Time Saving Agency

"The Lone Star of Africa Land of the free, on your beach and sacred forests loves flourished. You, Liberia, you my love to echo, the scream of freedom, holding tight and will never let go. O beautiful land, The Lone star for decades has survived wars and tribalism the elders who keep the ancestral treasures that resulted in Vandalism. When will morning break for great leaders to stand for what is right Mother Liberia?"

Henry Johnson Jr

"The headlines are never in the news! And so, what I am saying is the news is never on the headlines"

Sahndra Fon Dufe

"Activism begins with you, Democracy begins with you, get out there, get active! Tag, you're it"

Thom Hartmann

"Sometimes, people call my way of speaking ranting. Why are you always ranting and screaming, they ask. But here’s the thing…the reason why I rant is because I am a voice for many women that cannot speak out to heads of state, UN officials, and those that influence systems of oppression. And so I rant. And I will not stop ranting until my mission of equality of all girls is achieved."

Leymah Gbowee

"It is exhausting living in a population where people don't speak up if what they witness doesn't directly threaten them."

David Wojnarowicz

"If your not annoying somebody, you're not alive."

Margaret Atwood

"I'm all for fighting tyranny and oppression."

E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

"Stay awake. Spread awareness. Take action."

Eileen Anglin

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