Bayard Rustin

"The key to a great life is remembering that small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."

"We gain our ends only with people. If we alienate people, we fail."

"History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day."

"Through creative protest, we can shape the future."

"I refuse to accept a false choice between my activism and my identity."

"The most powerful weapon we have is our willingness to sacrifice."

"Every person has the capacity to understand nonviolence."

"We cannot expect justice unless we demand it."

"The idea that people can be happy in chains is a lie we must reject."

"I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than all the weapons of the world."

"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools."

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind and still retain the ability to function."

"We are only as strong as our least empowered member."

"To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system."

"The greatest threat to democracy is apathy."

"I believe that we are called to serve one another."

"Beauty exists in resistance and in the courage to be different."

"The future belongs to those willing to sacrifice today."

"We cannot build on false foundations of hatred and fear."

"Patience is not passive; it is the strength to endure with purpose."

"I have always believed that there is power in the gathered community."

"The measure of a nation is not found in its weapons but in its conscience."

"We are engaged in a great moral struggle for the soul of America."

"To separate economic justice from human dignity is to misunderstand both."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

"Creativity is the power to innovate solutions to centuries-old problems."

"The young must carry the torch of justice forward."

"We cannot afford to fail because failure means continued suffering."

"The time is always now. We cannot wait for a more convenient season."

"Justice is like a train that is nearly always waiting at the station."