John Lewis not too long ago died at age 80 after devoting his life to the wrestle for equality and equal rights. After a few years as an activist and organizer, John Lewis served within the Home of Representatives from 1987 to 2020. John Lewis organized the March on Washington with MLK, served on the Atlanta Metropolis Council, and was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
John Lewis was probably the most inspiring voices of his era, and his phrases usually impressed motion for justice. Listed below are a few of John Lewis’ finest and most well-known quotes on voting, good trouble, and “should you see one thing.”
John Lewis Quotes: Best | Civil Rights | Voting | See Something | Good Trouble | Quotes About John
Greatest John Lewis Quotes:
“I enchantment to all of you to get into this nice revolution that’s sweeping this nation. Get in and keep within the streets of each metropolis, each village and hamlet of this nation till true freedom comes, till the revolution of 1776 is full.” – John Lewis, 1963 March on Washington
• “To those that have stated, ‘Be affected person and wait,’ we have now lengthy stated that we can’t be affected person. We don’t want our freedom step by step, however we need to be free now! We’re drained. We’re bored with being crushed by policemen. We’re bored with seeing our folks locked up in jail time and again.” – John Lewis, March on Washington speech
• “Freedom shouldn’t be a state; it’s an act. It’s not some enchanted backyard perched excessive on a distant plateau the place we are able to lastly sit down and relaxation. Freedom is the continual motion all of us should take, and every era should do its half to create an much more honest, extra simply society.” – From John Lewis’ memoir, Throughout That Bridge
1. Quotes on Religion, Civil Rights
• “Religion is being so positive of what the spirit has whispered in your coronary heart that your perception in its eventuality is unshakable.” – John Lewis quote from his e book Throughout that Bridge
“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” – John Lewis
• “The civil rights motion was based mostly on religion. Many people who had been contributors on this motion noticed our involvement as an extension of our religion. We noticed ourselves doing the work of the Almighty. Segregation and racial discrimination weren’t in line with our religion, so we needed to do one thing.” – John Lewis quote
• “We now have been too quiet for too lengthy. There comes a time when you must say one thing. It’s important to make a bit of noise. It’s important to transfer your ft. That is the time.” – John Lewis quote, 2016 Home sit-in quickly after Pulse taking pictures in Orlando
• “Regardless of actual progress, I can’t assist however consider younger Emmett [Till] at this time as I watch video after video after video of unarmed Black People being killed, and falsely accused. My coronary heart breaks for these women and men, their households, and the nation that permit them down – once more.”
2. Quotes on Voting:
“My pricey pals: Your vote is valuable, virtually sacred. It’s essentially the most highly effective nonviolent software we have now to create a extra excellent union.” – John Lewis quote on voting, 2012 speech in Charlotte, North Carolina
• “Generally you must not simply dream about what might be—you get out and push, and also you pull, and also you preach. And also you create a local weather and setting to get these in excessive locations, to get women and men of goodwill in energy to behave.“ — John Lewis on his persevering with dedication to nonviolence whereas reflecting on the March on Washington with Invoice Moyers
“We could not have chosen the time, however the time has chosen us.” – John Lewis
We could not have chosen the time, however the time has chosen us. #goodtrouble
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) July 11, 2016
3. Quotes About Selma
• “I say to folks at this time, ‘You have to be ready should you imagine in one thing. In case you imagine in one thing, you must go for it. As people, we could not dwell to see the top.” – John Lewis
• “Selma is a spot the place we injected one thing very significant into our democracy. We opened up the political course of and made it attainable for a whole bunch and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of individuals to come back in and be contributors.” – John Lewis quote on Selma
• “Fifty years later, these of us who’re dedicated to the reason for justice must tempo ourselves as a result of the wrestle doesn’t final for someday, one week, or one 12 months, however it’s the wrestle of a lifetime, and every era should do its half.” – John Lewis
• “In case you’re not hopeful and optimistic, then you definately simply surrender. It’s important to take the lengthy arduous look and simply imagine that should you’re constant, you’ll succeed.” – John Lewis
4. Quotes on God:
• “We had been crushed, we had been tear-gassed. I believed I used to be going to die on this bridge. However one way or the other and someway, God almighty helped me right here. We can not surrender now. We can not give in. We should maintain the religion, maintain our eyes on the prize.” – John Lewis on Selma
• “Nothing can cease the ability of a dedicated and decided folks to make a distinction in our society. Why? As a result of human beings are essentially the most dynamic hyperlink to the divine on this planet.” – John Lewis, Throughout That Bridge
• “You’re a mild. You’re the mild. By no means let anybody – any particular person or any power – dampen, dim, or diminish your mild. Research the trail of others to make your approach simpler and extra considerable.” – Quote from John Lewis’ 2017 memoir, Throughout That Bridge
• “My fellow People, this can be a particular second in our historical past. Simply as folks of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colours banded collectively a long time in the past to battle for equality and justice in a peaceable, orderly, non-violent trend, we should accomplish that once more.” – John Lewis on George Floyd’s demise
5. “If You See One thing” Quote
“Once you see one thing that isn’t proper, not simply, not honest, you will have an ethical obligation to say one thing. To do one thing. Our youngsters and their youngsters will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’ For some, this vote could also be arduous. However we have now a mission and a mandate to be on the appropriate aspect of historical past.” – John Lewis, Dec. 2019 remarks within the Home on the impeachment of President Donald Trump
6. Quotes on Love
• “What I attempt to inform younger folks is that should you come along with a mission, and it’s grounded with love and a way of neighborhood, you may make the inconceivable attainable.” – John Lewis
• “What I attempt to inform younger folks is that should you come along with a mission, and it’s grounded with love and a way of neighborhood, you may make the inconceivable attainable.” – John Lewis quote
*History of the “Death & Taxes” Quote
7. Good Bother Quote:
• “I need to see younger folks in America really feel the spirit of the Nineteen Sixties and discover a method to get in the best way. To discover a method to get in hassle. Good hassle, needed hassle.” – John Lewis
• “It was very transferring, very transferring to see a whole bunch and hundreds of individuals from throughout America and all over the world take to the streets to talk up, to talk out, to get into what I name ‘good hassle,’ however to get in the best way, and due to the motion of younger and previous, Black, white, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American, as a result of folks cried and prayed, folks won’t ever, ever overlook what occurred and the way it occurred, and it’s my hope that we’re on our method to larger change.” – on Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s demise.
• “Don’t get misplaced in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our wrestle shouldn’t be the wrestle of a day, every week, a month, or a 12 months, it’s the wrestle of a lifetime. By no means, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good hassle, needed hassle.” – John Lewis tweet, June 2018
• “Rosa Parks impressed me to discover a method to get in the best way, to get in hassle… good hassle, needed hassle.” – John Lewis
Associated: Harriet Tubman Quotes
8. By no means Give Up
• “I imagine that you simply see one thing that you simply need to get performed, you can not surrender, and you can not give in.” – John Lewis
• “You have to be daring, courageous, and brave and discover a approach… to get in the best way.” – John Lewis
• “These younger persons are saying all of us have a proper to know what’s within the air we breathe, within the water we drink, and the meals we eat. It’s our duty to depart this planet cleaner and greener. That have to be our legacy.” John Lewis on youth local weather activists Sept. 2019
9. Quotes About John Lewis
• After John Lewis’ demise, French President, Emmanuel Macron, stated of John, “A lifetime of wrestle for civil rights. A lifetime of moving into ‘good hassle,’ of combating for a world that’s extra simply. A real hero. Certainly, ‘due to you, John.”
• “Not many people get to dwell to see our personal legacy play out in such a significant, exceptional approach. John Lewis did, and because of him, we now all have our marching orders — to maintain believing in the potential of remaking this nation we love till it lives as much as its full promise.” – Barack Obama
• “Congressman John Lewis ought to spend extra time on fixing and serving to his district, which is in horrible form and falling aside (to not point out crime-infested) somewhat than falsely complaining in regards to the election outcomes. All speak, speak, speak – no motion or outcomes. Unhappy,” – Donald Trump tweeted on the weekend of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal vacation.
