Top 1200 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Activists

NATO was constructed on the - with the reason, whether one believes it or not, that it was going to defend Western Europe from Russian assault. Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, that reason was gone. So, first question: why does NATO exist?

We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.

I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.

Democracy is not a spectator sport, it's a participatory event. If we don't participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.

If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth, unless someone rises up to tell you the truth.

If journalism is good, it is controversial, by its nature.

The best protection any woman can have... is courage.

Money has power. And so withholding money has power too, especially when a bunch of people do it together.

Every revolution seems impossible at the beginning, and after it happens, it was inevitable.

Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.

We're not anti-police... we're anti-police brutality.

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.

We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.

Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking.

I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse.

Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.

Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun.

Cyberbullying isn't real. But bullying and harassment certainly are real. Trust me, friends, I went to school in England. They've got bullying down to a fine art. I know, because I was one of its chief architects. I was awful to my fellow schoolboys.

The only certainty we have is that those who are certain of a way to arrive at worldly salvation, are committed enough to organize around this, and seek power to enforce it, will invariably descend into a bloody totalitarian fascism.

Responsibility educates.

What I am defending is the real rights of women. A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother.

Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.

Never doubt that one person can make a difference.

We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.

Nobody's free until everybody's free.

Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.

The difference between equity and equality is that equality is everyone get the same thing and equity is everyone get the things they deserve.

Globalization has much potential. It could be the answer to many of the world's seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundations based on a political will to ensure equity and justice.

When karma lands, it lands hard.

Exercise is essential for good health. But we can't exercise our way out of the obesity epidemic.

I have been known for some time as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a hypocrite.

We long to have a home where civil freedoms are respected, where our children will not be subject to mass surveillance, abuse of human rights, political censorship and mass incarceration. We stand with all the free peoples of the world and hope you stand with us in our quest for justice and freedom.

Wind and other clean, renewable energy will help end our reliance on fossil fuels and combat the severe threat that climate change poses to humans and wildlife alike.

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

North Korea is a religion. We are told that Kim is a god and that he knows what you are thinking and how many hairs are on your head. It is the only country which talks about 'thought crime' - even thinking is a crime.

It's time for political leaders across the ideological spectrum to realize that, while partisanship is understandable, hyper-partisanship is destructive to our country. We need more visionary leaders who will earnestly strive for bipartisanship and finding policy solutions that can move America forward.

Never underestimate the power of anyone's story... anyone's life.

A mentor is someone with a willingness to help others, who has a capacity to inspire, a determination to work hard, a clear sense of vision, an inspiring purpose, a deep sense of integrity and an appreciation for joy.

The movement for black lives isn't just about black people. Black liberation has never just been about black people. It's been about a fight for our humanity, for our dignity.

If people are going to judge me without fully understanding the content of my character, then their opinion just isn't worth it.

I have become the person I am today, as a result of both the successes and the scars in my life.

People start to yawn when you warn them about a move toward socialism. It seems abstract. But if you discuss the issues that arise from high taxes, oppressive regulation, seizure of private property, and dictating of individual behavior, people understand them, and they reject them.

My life was forever changed by people who took the time and had the patience to learn my story and to share theirs with me. They forsook judgment and came to me with kindness and empathy and the impact of that decision was huge.

We are all people who have messed up. I fall short every single day.

We must stand together united in solidarity against the targeting, demonization, and vilification of any group of people.

As a medical doctor, it is my duty to evaluate the situation with as much data as I can gather and as much expertise as I have and as much experience as I have to determine whether or not the wish of the patient is medically justified.

America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live.

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.