John Lewis

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he would die for, he isn't fit to live."

"The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the futures of his children for his immediate comfort and safety."

"Compassion and nonviolence must become a part of our souls."

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

"The question of violence ever remains a question of power."

"We must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers."

"Peace for a day is peace for a day."

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong you cannot be too conservative."

"There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through life."

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the struggle for equality and justice."

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable."

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."

"The soft-minded man always fears change. He sees only the surface of things and he fears what the future holds."

"The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, seeking always to detect that which is false and unsound."

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism."

"Let us be the generation remembered as the one that stood up to tyranny and oppression."

"The purpose of life is not merely to live, but to live for a purpose."

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

"Knowledge is power, but compassion is purpose."

"The time comes when silence becomes betrayal."

"I want to be remembered as a drum major for peace, for righteousness, for justice."

"We must be willing to pay the price for peace."

"There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect."

"Cowardice asks, Is it safe? Expediency asks, Is it politic? But conscience asks, Is it right?"

"I have accepted a long period of international servitude in exchange for a few trinkets."

"Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew."

"Our generation has found new ways to make war, but we have not learned new ways to make peace."