Cornel West Quotes

Quotes about:

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  You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.

  Cornel West

  People, Ifs

  Twitter post from Oct 19, 2010

  188 Copy quote
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  There is a price to pay for speaking the truth. There is a bigger price for living a lie.

  Cornel West

  Lying, Pay, Living A Lie

  Twitter post from Jun 17, 2011

  217 Copy quote
• 

  Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public

  Cornel West

  Love, Justice, Looks

  Twitter post from Oct 28, 2010

  141 Copy quote

• The country is in deep trouble. We've forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that's the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.

  Cornel West

  Life, Country, Patience

  203 Copy quote

• Hope and optimism are different. Optimism tends to be based on the notion that there's enough evidence out there to believe things are gonna be better, much more rational, deeply secular, whereas hope looks at the evidence and says, "It doesn't look good at all. Doesn't look good at all. Gonna go beyond the evidence to create new possibilities based on visions that become contagious to allow people to engage in heroic actions always against the odds, no guarantee whatsoever." That's hope. I'm a prisoner of hope, though. Gonna die a prisoner of hope.

  Cornel West

  Believe, Odds, People

  154 Copy quote
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  Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.

  Cornel West

  Hope, Courage, Compassion

  FaceBook post by Dr. Cornel West from Jun 16, 2010

  137 Copy quote

• Our politicians have sacrificed their principles on the altar of special interests; our corporate leaders have sacrificed their integrity on the altar of profits; and our media watchdogs have sacrificed the voice of dissent on the altar of audience competition.

  Cornel West

  Integrity, Media, Voice

  Cornel West (2005). “Democracy matters: winning the fight against imperialism”, Penguin Classics

  5 Copy quote

• It takes tremendous discipline, takes tremendous courage, to think for yourself, to examine yourself.

  Cornel West

  Thinking, Discipline, Think For Yourself

  Source: genius.com

  46 Copy quote

• The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.

  Cornel West

  Inspirational, Giving, Purpose Driven Life

  119 Copy quote

• When ordinary people wake up, elites begin to tremble in their boots.

  Cornel West

  People, Ordinary, Wake Up

  Twitter post from May 27, 2010

  33 Copy quote
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  We are who we are because somebody loved us.

  Cornel West

  Who We Are

  Cornel West (2011). “Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, a Memoir”, p.251, ReadHowYouWant.com

  110 Copy quote

• You have to have a habitual vision of greatness ... you have to believe in fact that you will refuse to settle for mediocrity. You won't confuse your financial security with your personal integrity, you won't confuse your success with your greatness or your prosperity with your magnanimity ... believe in fact that living is connected to giving.

  Cornel West

  Integrity, Believe, Greatness

  154 Copy quote

• You must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth

  Cornel West

  Suffering, Want, Speak

  53 Copy quote

• You've got to be a thermostat rather than a thermometer. A thermostat shapes the climate of opinion; a thermometer just reflects it.

  Cornel West

  Climate, Shapes, Opinion

  FaceBook post by Dr. Cornel West from Jul 26, 2011

  37 Copy quote

• If the Kingdom of God is in you, you should leave a little bit of heaven wherever you go.

  Cornel West

  Heaven, Littles, Kingdoms

  53 Copy quote

• The powerful have no monopoly on greed, hatred, fear, or ignorance.

  Cornel West

  Powerful, Ignorance, Hatred

  Source: genius.com

  9 Copy quote

• We have to be militants for kindness, subversive for sweetness and radicals for tenderness.

  Cornel West

  Kindness, Radical, Sweetness

  33 Copy quote

• To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.

  Cornel West

  Despair, Lasts, Last Words

  Cornel West (1998). “Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America”, G K Hall & Company

  14 Copy quote

• One of the things I love most about Martin Luther King is that he was willing to sacrifice his popularity in favor of his integrity. He was an honest man, and he would tell the truth.

  Cornel West

  Kings, Integrity, Sacrifice

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

  12 Copy quote

• Courage is being true to yourself, true to a sense of integrity.

  Cornel West

  Integrity, Be True To Yourself, True To Yourself

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  40 Copy quote

• Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.

  Cornel West

  Love, Truth, Superficial Things

  138 Copy quote

• The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak, it means then that if you have a prophetic sensibility, you are committed to loving others and if you love others, you hate injustice.

  Cornel West

  Hate, Mean, Suffering

  Source: genius.com

  62 Copy quote

• A fully functional multiracial society cannot be achieved without a sense of history and open, honest dialogue.

  Cornel West

  Honest, Dialogue, Multiracial

  Twitter post from Aug 05, 2009

  87 Copy quote

• The only countervailing force against organized money at the top, is organized people at the bottom.

  Cornel West

  People, Force, Bottom

  26 Copy quote

• Justice is what love looks like in public.

  Cornel West

  Justice, Looks, Justice And Love

  Twitter post from Feb 15, 2017

  52 Copy quote

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