Injustice And Oppression Quotes

• Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession - to defend it against every thrust from within or without.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Fear, Men, Possession

  Dwight D. Eisenhower (1948). “Crusade in Europe”

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• I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Oasis, Justice

  "Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech is the greatest oration of all time" by Sean O'Grady, www.independent.co.uk. April 3, 2018.

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• If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

  Desmond Tutu

  Bullying, Justice, Sides

  "The secrets of a peacemaker". Interview with Gary Younge, www.theguardian.com. May 22, 2009.

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• We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Civilization, Justice, Diversity

  Greeting to the American Committee for Protection of Foreign-born, January 9, 1940.

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• Let us never cease to feel compassion for those in want. Let us never tire of helping victims of injustice and oppression. He who puts his faith in the restoration of human dignity cannot be wrong.

  Poul Hartling

  Compassion, Justice, Restoration

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• The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Tyrants

  Frederick Douglass, Philip Sheldon Foner, Yuval Taylor (1999). “Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings”, p.367, Chicago Review Press

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• Law and freedom must be indivisible partners. For without law, there can be no freedom, only choas and disorder; and without freedom, law is but a cynical veneer for injustice and oppression.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, Law, Cynical

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1984). “Ronald Reagan”

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  Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

  Elie Wiesel

  Bystanders, Remembrance, Silence

  Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 11 Dec. 1986

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• Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Power, Tyrants

  Speech, Canandaigua, N.Y., 4 Aug. 1857

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• Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

  Robert Kennedy

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

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• It is for real that injustice and oppression will not have the last word. There was a time when Hitler looked like he was going to vanquish all of Europe, and where is he now?

  Desmond Tutu

  Real, Europe, Lasts

  University of Michigan Wallenberg Lecture, October 29, 2008.

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  If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

  Desmond Tutu

  Bullying, Peace, Elephants

  FaceBook post by Desmond Tutu from Jan 22, 2014

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• The great biblical tradition enjoins on all peoples the duty to hear the voice of the poor.  It bids us break the bonds of injustice and oppression which give rise to glaring, and indeed scandalous, social inequalities.

  Pope Francis

  Biblical, Voice, Giving

  "Pope Tells Philippines Leaders To End Corruption, Hear Cries Of The Poor" by Philip Pullella and Manuel Mogato, www.businessinsider.com. January 15, 2015.

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• This is a moral universe, which means that, despite all the evidence that seems to be to the contrary, there is no way that evil and injustice and oppression and lies can have the last word.

  Desmond Tutu

  Lying, Mean, People

  "No Future Without Forgiveness". Book by Desmond Tutu, www.huffingtonpost.com. 1999.

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• This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

  Frederick Douglass

  Struggle, Blow, Tyrants

  Frederick Douglass, Milton Meltzer (1995). “Frederick Douglass, in his own words”, Harcourt Children's Books

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• You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.

  Booker T. Washington

  Letting Go, Stay Strong, Men

  "The Great Quotations" edited by George Seldes, (p. 641), 1971.

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• It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.

  Carl T. Rowan

  Freedom, Block, Home

  "Wellspring: 365 Meditations to Refresh Your Soul". Book by Karen Moore (p. 263), October 1, 2011.

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• Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Kids

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• It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

  Robert Kennedy

  Change, Hope, Courage

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

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  I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Children

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.

  Robert Kennedy

  Courage, Peace, Volunteer

  Robert F. Kennedy (1968). “"An Honorable profession": a tribute to Robert F. Kennedy”

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• Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

  John F. Kennedy

  Motivational, Commitment, Tolerance

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• Reforming the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor first requires a conversion of mind and heart.

  Pope Francis

  Heart, Mind, Poverty

  Pope Francis' address at the meeting with authorities and the diplomatic corps during his apostolic journey to Rio Sri Lanka and the Philippines, at Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila, w2.vatican.va. January 16, 2015.

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• All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.

  Noah Webster

  Christian, Religious, War

  Noah Webster (1832). “History of the United States: To which is Prefixed a Brief Historical Account of Our [English] Ancestors, from the Dispersion at Babel, to Their Migration to America, and of the Conquest of South America, by the Spaniards”, p.339

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• I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into a oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by content of their character. I have a dream today!

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Children, Character

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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