Social Justice Quotes

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  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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• It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.

  Aesop

  Courage, Distance, Army

  Joseph Jacobs, Aesop (2002). “The Fables of Aesop”, p.41, Courier Corporation

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  The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend on it.

  Jimmy Carter

  Honesty, Powerful, Government

  Jimmy Carter, Bill Adler (1977). “The wit and wisdom of Jimmy Carter”, Book Sales

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• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Peace, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.

  Helen Keller

  Women, Responsibility, People

  Helen Keller (2011). “To Live, to Think, to Hope: Inspirational Quotes by Helen Keller”, p.111, Matthew Gordon

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• If you join a fight for social justice you may win or lose, but just by being part of the struggle, you win, and your life will be better for it.

  Howard Zinn

  Struggle, Fighting, Winning

  12 Copy quote
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  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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• Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life.

  Albert Einstein

  Justice, Strive, Social

  31 Copy quote

• Be the change you want to see.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  86 Copy quote

• There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

  Booker T. Washington

  Positive, Strength, Success

  Booker T. Washington (1904*). “Address of Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal & Industrial Institute: Before the National Educational Association, St. Louis, Missouri, June 30, 1904”

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• Freedom is incomplete without social justice.

  Atal Bihari Vajpayee

  Justice, Social, Incomplete

  53 Copy quote

• When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.

  Cesar Chavez

  Caring, Men, Rights

  28 Copy quote

• 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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• The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.

  Marian Wright Edelman

  Peace, Justice, Community

  "Leisure as transformation: Volume 4". Book by Christopher R. Edginton, Peter Chen, p. 87, 2008.

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• Mankind will endure when the world appreciates the logic of diversity.

  Indira Gandhi

  Appreciate, Justice, Diversity

  Indira Gandhi (1984). “Selected Speeches of Indira Gandhi: September 1972-March 1977”

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• My God, what do we want? What does any human being want? Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else. All we want is for that trivial difference to make no difference.

  Shirley Chisholm

  Differences, Justice, Skins

  Shirley Chisholm (2010). “Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition”, p.148, Take Root Media

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• How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?

  Isabel Allende

  Peace, War, Ubuntu

  15 Copy quote

• The trouble is that not enough people have come together with the firm determination to live the things which they say they believe.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Determination, Believe, Justice

  Eleanor Roosevelt (1960). “You Learn by Living”, p.129, Westminster John Knox Press

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• History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Sad, Wisdom, Bad Relationship

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• Charity is no substitute for justice. If we never challenge a social order that allows some to accumulate wealth--even if they decide to help the less fortunate--while others are short-changed, then even acts of kindness end up supporting unjust arrangements. We must never ignore the injustices that make charity necessary, or the inequalities that make it possible.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Kindness, Order, Justice

  "Come Hell or High Water". Book by Michael Eric Dyson, www.today.com. 2006.

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• The world howls for social justice, but when it comes to social responsibility, you sometimes cant even hear crickets chirping.

  Dean Koontz

  Responsibility, Justice, World

  18 Copy quote
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  If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

  Frederick Douglass

  Inspirational, Change, Moving On

  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

  86 Copy quote

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• Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deepseated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.

  Shirley Chisholm

  Country, Racism, Justice

  Shirley Chisholm (2010). “Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition”, p.147, Take Root Media

  86 Copy quote

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• A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect

  Vann R. Newkirk II

  Political, Justice Will Prevail, Resistance

  208 Copy quote