Political Activism Quotes

• 

  Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

  Margaret Mead

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  Margaret Mead, Robert B. Textor (2005). “The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future”, p.12, Berghahn Books

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• 

  There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

  Elie Wiesel

  Freedom, Philosophy, Military

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.182, Schocken

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• It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

  Voltaire

  Inspirational, Religious, Freedom

  "The Age of Louis XIV". Book by Voltaire, 1751.

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• Our aims in political activism are not, and should not be, to create a perfect utopia.

  Paul Wellstone

  Perfect, Political, Utopia

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• There`s a reason people pause their lives to engage in political activism and pressure their local political leaders. Because as a whole, even if you can`t identify any one instance, as a whole pressure works and sometimes it starts with something as simple as pushing the button on the intercom.

  Rachel Maddow

  Simple, People, Leader

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• The most important assets we have are our bodies and our energy which can be put to good use as resources in political activism for poor and working people.

  Cornel West

  People, Political, Important

  "Dr. Cornel West’s Prognosis for the Country’s Prospects". Interview with Kam Williams, www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com.

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• Political activism is seductive because it seems to offer the possibility that one can improve society, make things better, without going through the personal ordeal of rearranging one's perceptions and transforming one's self.

  Tom Robbins

  Self, Seductive, Political

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• Musicians always want to sacrifice our creativity to get involved in environmental issues or political activism of some sort - to reduce it to something more populist in terms of sing-alongs or guitar songs with a message.

  Eyvind Kang

  Song, Creativity, Sacrifice

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• A lot of people think of political activism as some grim duty, and I think we do have an obligation to be citizens - to be informed and engaged.

  Rebecca Solnit

  Thinking, People, Political

  Interview with Benjamin Cohen, believermag.com. September 1, 2009.

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• Take your hurt feelings and channel them into political activism.

  Joy Browne

  Hurt, Women, Political

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• No sane human being devotes 100% of his or her life to political activism.

  Noam Chomsky

  Political, Activism, Sane

  Source: libcom.org

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• I also think one of the things that's really hurting us is political activism of any stripe. Michael Jordan had it exactly right, he was my idol - when he was asked about a political question at one point and he said I'm not going to answer it, and they said why not, and he said: Because Republicans buy gym shoes too, right? That doesn't exist anymore, that kind of smarts.

  Edward Allen Bernero

  Hurt, Smart, Thinking

  Source: deadline.com

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• Our aims in political activism are not, and should not be, to create a perfect utopia. What we seek is more simply to improve the quality of human life while at the same time respecting the natural environment which sustains it: 'Not a heaven on earth but a better earth on earth.' This is not at all a timid agenda, far from it. The work ahead of us is enormous!

  Paul Wellstone

  Perfect, Political, Heaven

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• To me, a political song is also a personal song. Most political activism has been driven by empathy for other people and the desire for a world that's less divisive. Even if songs aren't overtly political, they can make a listener more empathetic.

  Conor Oberst

  Song, People, Political

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• My generation of bossy, confident, baby-boom women were something brand new in history. Our energy and assertiveness weren't created by Betty Friedan, unknown before her 1963 book, or by Gloria Steinem, whose political activism, as even the Lifetime profile admitted, did not begin until 1969.

  Camille Paglia

  Baby, Book, Political

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• I've embraced rock 'n' roll because it encompasses all the things I'm interested in: poetry, revolution, sexuality, political activism - all of these things can be found in rock 'n' roll. But I am also engaged in all of these things separately.

  Patti Smith

  Rocks, Political, Revolution

  Source: the-talks.com

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• I think there's a little more attention to human needs than to property rights. But I don't think much of political activism. It's so shortsighted. Most people are interested in their own personal comfort. I've said that about environmentalists. I think they care about bike paths and places to park their Volvos, not the planet as an abstraction.

  George Carlin

  Thinking, Rights, People

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• When it comes to engaging and influencing culture, too many Christians think too highly of political activism.

  Tullian Tchividjian

  Christian, Thinking, Political

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• What is music in America? It's this stand-in for political action in a lot of senses. We have no democracy and we have no art culture, and we've long considered politics nebbish-y and hopelessly unsexy. So a lot of what would be considered political activism is channeled into cultural work.

  Ian Svenonius

  Art, America, Long

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Everybody's got to reclaim these thingspoetry, rock'n'roll, political activismand it's got to be done over and over again. It's like eating: you can't say,'Oh, I ate yesterday'.You have to eat again.

  Patti Smith

  Rocks, Yesterday, Political

  2004 In Rolling Stone , 27 May.

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• If CASA?s board, which includes such scientific experts as actress Jamie Lee Curtis, wants to tell the world that drinking is bad for you, that?s their prerogative? But there?s no excuse for political activism masquerading as science.

  Bill Vaughan

  Drinking, Political, Abuse

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• The [Booker] prize was actually responsible in many ways for my political activism. I won this thing and I was suddenly the darling of the new emerging Indian middle class – they needed a princess. They had the wrong woman. I had this light shining on me at the time, and I knew that I had the stage to say something about what was happening in my country. What is exciting about what I have done since is that writing has become a weapon, some kind of ammunition.

  Arundhati Roy

  Country, Princess, Writing

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• London is one of the world's centres of Arab journalism and political activism. The failure of left and right, the establishment and its opposition, to mount principled arguments against clerical reaction has had global ramifications. Ideas minted in Britain – the notion that it is bigoted to oppose bigotry; 'Islamophobic' to oppose clerics whose first desire is to oppress Muslims – swirl out through the press and the net to lands where they can do real harm.

  Nick Cohen

  Real, Land, Ideas

  "At last, Islam's appeasers may be on the run" by Nick Cohen, www.theguardian.com. February 5, 2011.

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• That attitude that fighting is probably not fair, but you have to defend yourself anyway and damage the enemy, has been profoundly consequential as far as my political activism goes.

  June Jordan

  Attitude, Fighting, Political

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