Bayard Rustin

"We must be willing to die for our beliefs, but we must also be willing to live for them."

"The power to transform the world begins with transforming ourselves."

"I believe that justice is not a luxury; it is a necessity."

"We cannot afford to let fear dictate our actions."

"The struggle for equality is the defining struggle of our time."

"I have always believed that hope is a discipline."

"We must learn to see injustice wherever it exists."

"The most important revolution is the one that takes place in the human heart."

"The function of protest is to dislodge issues from the straight-jacket of the bureaucconsensus."

"We are all bound together; we cannot separate our destiny."

"If we desire a lasting peace, it must be a peace based on social justice."

"I must say that I am not enamored of the way in which women are treated in the church."

"The Negro cannot win if he is willing to employ the same brutal methods which his oppressor uses."

"We accept too readily the idea that might is right in this world."

"Young people need models, not critics."

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side."

"I believe in the essential goodness of people and their capacity to improve."

"Homophobic attack is the weapon of those who want to divide us."

"When I say I'm in love, I mean that I have found someone to grow old with."

"To me, nonviolence is not passive but active."

"We live in a society that tells us we are only as valuable as what we produce."

"The job of a lifetime is to know yourself and to give that self away."

"Art must be placed at the service of the revolution."

"I have come to believe that there is no ingredient more important in the formula of success than to know for what one stands."

"The minute we abandon principle, we have already lost the struggle."

"We are not asked to do great things; we are asked to do small things with great love."

"Despair is a luxury I cannot afford."

"The brotherhood of man becomes a reality only when we recognize that all human beings have equal worth and dignity."

"If we are to achieve a real democracy, we must give not just equal rights but equal respect."

"I think we must accept this moment as one in which to work and to vision."