Social Justice Quotes - Page 35

• Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily true; that what we like is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open.

  Clive Bell

  Believe, Convince Us, Justice

  Civilization (1928) ch. 5

  23 Copy quote

  Show source

• What does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all other Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights say, what the Four Freedoms establish. While he knows these ideals are open to no man completely, he wants only his equal chance to obtain them.

  Mary McLeod Bethune

  Real, Opportunity, Simple

  Mary McLeod Bethune, Audrey Thomas McCluskey, Elaine M. Smith (2001). “Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World : Essays and Selected Documents”, p.23, Indiana University Press

  75 Copy quote

  Show source

• The myth of integration as propounded under the banner of the liberal ideology must be cracked because it makes people believe that something is being achieved when in reality the artificially integrated circles are a soporfic to the blacks while salving the consciences of the few guilt-stricken whites.

  Steven Biko

  Believe, Reality, Circles

  112 Copy quote

• Without a visual identity, we have no community, no support network, no movement. Making ourselves visible is a political act, making ourselves visible is a continual process.

  Joan E. Biren

  Justice, Diversity, Support

  8 Copy quote

• No higher duty, or more solemn responsibility, rests upon this Court than that of translating into living law and maintaining this constitutional shield deliberately planned and inscribed for the benefit of every human being subject to our Constitution - of whatever race, creed or persuasion.

  Hugo Black

  Life, Responsibility, Race

  "Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227". Writing for the court, 1940.

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both.

  Alice Stone Blackwell

  Memorable, Justice, Diversity

  23 Copy quote

• The existence of any pure race with special endowments is a myth, as is the belief that there are races all of whose members are foredoomed to eternal inferiority.

  Franz Boas

  Race, Justice, Diversity

  Franz Boas (1969). “Race and Democratic Society”, p.20, Biblo & Tannen Publishers

  85 Copy quote

  Show source

• No one has ever proved that a human being, through his descent from a certain group of people, must of necessity have certain mental characteristics.

  Franz Boas

  People, Justice, Diversity

  Race and Democratic Society ch. 7 (1945)

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• Violence is black children going to school for 12 years and receiving 6 years' worth of education.

  Julian Bond

  Education, Children, School

  206 Copy quote

• I know I'm not a man-about that much I'm very clear, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not a woman either, at least not according to a lot of people's rules on this sort of thing. The trouble is, we're living in a world that insists we be one or the other-a world that doesn't bother to tell us exactly what one or the other is.

  Kate Bornstein

  Men, People, Justice

  Kate Bornstein (2013). “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us”, p.18, Routledge

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• Forget not that the grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong. Remember the eternal law: you must give, if you want to get.

  Subhas Chandra Bose

  Law, Giving, Justice

  Subhas Chandra Bose (1962). “Crossroads: Being the Works of Subhas Chandra Bose, 1938-1940”

  757 Copy quote

  Show source

• That a Jew is despised or persecuted is bad for him, of course-but far worse for the Christian who does it-for although persecuted he can remain a good Jew-whereas no Christian who persecutes can possibly remain-if he ever was one-a good Christian.

  Phyllis Bottome

  Christian, Justice, Diversity

  Phyllis Bottome (1998). “The Mortal Storm”, p.190, Northwestern University Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• People tell me, "I'm glad you said that." But this is not a spectator sport. This is an activity that requires daily moral awakening as well as a commitment that leads to real change.

  Bill Bradley

  Sports, Real, Commitment

  4 Copy quote

• After macrobiotics, Zen, and channeling, the "poor Vanishing Indian" is once more the subject of "deep and meaningful conversation" in the high rises.

  Mary Brave Bird

  Meaningful, Justice, Diversity

  Mary Brave Bird (2014). “Ohitika Woman”, p.140, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Who struggles can fail. Who doesn't struggle has already failed!

  Bertolt Brecht

  Struggle, Justice, Diversity

  8 Copy quote

• The great poem and the deep theorem are new to every reader, and yet are his own experiences, because he himself recreates them.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Justice, Diversity, Culture

  Jacob Bronowski (2011). “Science and Human Values”, p.18, Faber & Faber

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is brave to be involved

  Gwendolyn Brooks

  Courage, Justice, Brave

  Gwendolyn Brooks (2005). “The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks”, p.57, Library of America

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Inaction may be the biggest form of action.

  Jerry Brown

  Justice, Diversity, Culture

  11 Copy quote

• Had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends...every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

  John Brown

  Powerful, Intelligent, Men

  John Brown's Speech to the Court at his Trial, November 2, 1859.

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done...in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done!

  John Brown

  Country, Children, Believe

  Speech at trial for treason and insurrection, Charlestown, Va., 2 Nov. 1859 See Bible 333

  85 Copy quote

  Show source

• Lesbianism, politically organized, is the greatest threat that exists to male supremacy.

  Rita Mae Brown

  Justice, Diversity, Males

  Rita Mae Brown (1976). “A plain brown rapper”, Diana Pr

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plan religion.

  Thomas Browne

  Justice, Way, Indirect

  7 Copy quote

• I could never divide myself from any man upon the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgment for not agreeing with me in that from which perhaps within a few days I should dissent myself.

  Thomas Browne

  Men, Differences, Justice

  Sir Thomas Browne (1869). “Religio Medici: Hydriotaphia : and the Letter to a Friend”, p.10

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is not healthy when a nation lives within a nation, as colored Americans are living inside America. A nation cannot live confident of its tomorrow if its refugees are among its own citizens.

  Pearl S. Buck

  America, Justice, Diversity

  4 Copy quote

• It is natural anywhere that people like their own kind, but it is not necessarily natural that their fondness for their own kind should lead them to the subjection of whole groups of other people not like them.

  Pearl S. Buck

  People, Justice, Diversity

  4 Copy quote