Bayard Rustin

"We must balance our anger with our love for justice."

"The greatest gift is to inspire others to believe in themselves."

"We cannot achieve transformation without risk."

"The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, but only if we bend it."

"The function of protest is to dislodge issues from the historical shelf and put them on the social agenda."

"We cannot hope only to leave our homes behind and run away from injustice and not be touched by it, because we live here in America, and America will be touched by this."

"I believe that there is something profoundly and fundamentally wrong with the way we have come to understand Islam."

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it."

"The day may not be far off when it will be more disreputable to have the letter 'F' written after one's name than to be unable to read or write."

"I must say that I think the system of military conscription is evil."

"Through nonviolence, the oppressed can do to the oppressor what the oppressor does to them, but without violence."

"We are all complicit when we tolerate injustice and cruelty toward any group of people."

"Young people have built the movement. If older people lead, they must learn to follow."

"The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolence; 2) homosexuality; 3) being a Quaker."

"I think we are going to have to face up to the fact that either the United States or the Soviet Union was going to be the victorious power at the end of World War II and that Britain was on the decline."

"If we desire a civilized society, we must first teach our citizens to read, to reflect and to reason."

"The question is not whether one intends well but whether one does well."

"I think it is necessary to tell the American people the truth."

"We Quakers have always been concerned with social justice and I believe this is what drew me to the civil rights movement."

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often."

"The Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the Ku Klux Klans, but the white moderate."

"Young people are the future and they deserve our investment and attention."

"I do not think that the mere fact of living longer is of value, if the quality of that life is diminished."

"We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers."

"The invisible keyboard of the typewriter is the weapon of the educated person."

"If we are going to get rid of all violence, we are going to have to get rid of all injustice."

"I cannot in good conscience participate in war on any level."

"There are moments when I think we are all less different than we imagine."

"Poverty is the worst form of violence."

"We have allowed the media to dictate what we think and believe."