Paul Robeson Quotes

Quotes about:

• Artists are the gate keepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.

  Paul Robeson

  Artist, Civilization, Voice

  "Rose McGowan Opens the Women's Convention with a Powerful Speech" by Claire Valentine, www.papermag.com. October 28, 2017.

  64 Copy quote

• The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic but to end the injustice.

  Paul Robeson

  Justice, Diversity, Silence

  117 Copy quote

• Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.

  Paul Robeson

  Fighting, Artist, Choices

  101 Copy quote

• I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of fear. My weapons are peaceful, for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail.

  Paul Robeson

  Song, Voice, Inspire

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  95 Copy quote

• My father was a slave and my people died to build this country and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you.

  Paul Robeson

  Inspirational, Country, Father

  Testimony before House Un-American Activities Committee, 12 June 1956

  122 Copy quote

• Art is not just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be.

  Paul Robeson

  Art, Creativity, Should

  40 Copy quote

• To be free . . . to walk the good American earth as equal citizens, to live without fear, to enjoy the fruits of our toil, to give our children every opportunity in life--that dream which we have held so long in our hearts is today the destiny that we hold in our hands.

  Paul Robeson

  Dream, Freedom, Children

  Paul Robeson (1998). “Here I Stand”, p.108, Beacon Press

  69 Copy quote

• The faces and the tactics of the leaders may change every four years, or two, or one, but the people go on forever.

  Paul Robeson

  Dream, Stars, Real

  "Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974".

  67 Copy quote

• I do not hesitate one second to state clearly and unmistakably: I belong to the American resistance movement which fights against American imperialism, just as the resistance movement fought against Hitler.

  Paul Robeson

  Fighting, Movement, Resistance

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

  85 Copy quote

• We [must] realize that our future lies chiefly in our own hands.

  Paul Robeson

  Lying, Hands, Realizing

  Paul Robeson (2001). “The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939”, Wiley

  32 Copy quote

• As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.

  Paul Robeson

  Artist, Silence, Patriotism

  65 Copy quote

• In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.

  Paul Robeson

  Russia, Color, Prejudice

  Testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, June 12, 1956.

  55 Copy quote

• Through my singing and acting and speaking, I want to make freedom ring. Maybe I can touch people's hearts better than I can their minds, with the common struggle of the common man.

  Paul Robeson

  Freedom, Struggle, Heart

  44 Copy quote

• We ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand.

  Paul Robeson

  Lying, Demand, Great Power

  "Paul Robeson, Jr. Speaks to America: The Politics of Multiculturalism".

  43 Copy quote

• My future depends mostly upon myself.

  Paul Robeson

  My Future, Depends

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

  41 Copy quote

• The intolerance of the few, or the risk of it, carries the day against the wider humanity of the many.

  Paul Robeson

  Justice, Diversity, Humanity

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

  35 Copy quote

• The man who accepts Western values absolutely, finds his creative faculties becoming so warped and stunted that he is almost completely dependent on external satisfactions, and the moment he becomes frustrated in his search for these, he begins to develop neurotic symptoms, to feel that life is not worth living, and, in chronic cases, to take his own life.

  Paul Robeson

  Men, Western Values, Creative

  36 Copy quote

• We must join with the tens of millions all over the world who see in peace our most sacred responsibility.

  Paul Robeson

  Peace, Responsibility, World

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

  27 Copy quote

• Artists are the gatekeepers of truth.

  Paul Robeson

  Artist, Gatekeepers

  "Rose McGowan Opens the Women's Convention with a Powerful Speech" by Claire Valentine, www.papermag.com. October 28, 2017.

  13 Copy quote

• Every artist, every scientist, must decide now where he stands. He has no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction, in certain countries, of the greatest of man's literary heritage, through the propagation of false ideas of racial and national superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged. The struggle invades the formerly cloistered halls of our universities and other seats of learning. The battlefront is everywhere. There is no sheltered rear.

  Paul Robeson

  Country, Struggle, Artist

  Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”, Brunner-Routledge

  18 Copy quote

• The talents of an artist, small or great, are God-given. They've nothing to do with the private person; they're nothing to be proud of. They're just a sacred trust... Having been given, I must give. Man shall not live by bread alone, and what the farmer does I must do. I must feed the people - with my songs.

  Paul Robeson

  Song, Artist, Men

  29 Copy quote

• I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.

  Paul Robeson

  Music, Song, Land

  30 Copy quote

• In the early days of my carer as an actor, I shared what was then the prevailing attitude of Negro performers :;that the content and form of a play or a film scenario was of little importance to us. What mattered was was the opportunity, which came so seldom to our folks ... Later I came to understand that the Negro artist could not view the matter simply in terms of of his individual interests, and that he had a responsibility to his people who rightfully resented the traditional stereotyped portrayals of Negros on stage and screen.

  Paul Robeson

  Attitude, Responsibility, Artist

  "Here I Stand". Book by Paul Robeson, p. 124, 1958.

  38 Copy quote

• The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery.

  Paul Robeson

  Freedom, Fighting, Artist

  24 Copy quote

• Whether I am or am not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights.

  Paul Robeson

  Rights, Political, Citizens

  15 Copy quote

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