Civil disobedience Quotes

It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.

— Aristotle

Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.

— Henry David Thoreau

Civil disobedience is an act of love.

— Tim DeChristopher

It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.

— Tariq Ali

Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.

— Howard Zinn

Women have to risk civil disobedience for their rights.

— Sonia Johnson

If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.

— Henry David Thoreau

Civil disobedience and excitement and intoxication go ill together.

— Mahatma Gandhi

If the government or the parties won't address our needs, we will. It's about direct action, even civil disobedience.

— Edward Snowden

All great rebellions are born of private acts of civil disobedience that inspire rebel bands to plot together.

— Nancy Gibbs

A downtrodden class... will never be able to make an effective protest until it achieves solidarity.

— H. G. Wells

It takes courage to speak up against complacency and injustice while others remain silent. But that's what leadership is.

— Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Civil disobedience is a stimulation for the fighters and a challenge to the opponent, in the present instance, authority.

— Mahatma Gandhi

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Indeed, a civil resister offers resistance only when peace becomes impossible.

— Mahatma Gandhi

[Putin] is a bully. And bullies only understand when we punch them in the nose, but we need to do that economically.

— Kelly Ayotte

Today women in many countries are taking part in various types of movements of protest, some of which are serious struggles for…

— Kumari Jayawardena

The world - and America - has been defined by people who haven't necessarily abided by the laws and the rules. Civil…

— Rory Kennedy

No one understands that the First Amendment is only important if you are going to offend somebody. If you're not going to…

— Larry Flynt

If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting…

— Henry David Thoreau

Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resigns his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man…

— Henry David Thoreau

Unless nonviolence of the strong is really developed among us, there should be no thought of civil disobedience for Swaraj, whether within…

— Mahatma Gandhi

From an athlete's perspective, to cancel the Olympics in regards to the threats would be absolutely devastating - especially since the Olympics…

— Brian Boitano

I do not wish, it happens, to be associated with Massachusetts, either in holding slaves or in conquering Mexico. I am a…

— Henry David Thoreau

But the question is, do we care enough? Do we care enough to keep standing up for the country that we know…

— Barack Obama

You know, my father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women's rights, he spoke out for girl's…

— Malala Yousafzai

Civil disobedience can help to focus attention on a particular injustice. It was used historically to highlight wrongs in society - turning…

— Michael Brune

For good or for bad, India has rejected a more totalitarian approach to how it will deal with its social problems. We…

— Cyril Shroff

My running mate, Ajamu Baraka, was out camping out with the homeless in Baltimore . We were both recently at the Standing…

— Jill Stein

No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is…

— Henry David Thoreau

I remember back in the 1960s - late '50s, really - reading a comic book called 'Martin Luther King Jr. and the…

— John Lewis

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

“I want a dyke for president. I want a person with AIDS for president and I want a fag for vice president…

— Zoe Leonard

“The American Anti-Slavery Society, on the other hand, said the war was “waged solely for the detestable and horrible purpose of extending…

— Howard Zinn

“The only word these corporations know is more,” wrote Chris Hedges, former correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, and the…

— Jim Marrs

“There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an…

— Dorothee Soelle

“If you accept a democratic system, this means that you are prepared to put up with those of its workings, legislative or…

— George F. Kennan

“The rhetoric of ‘law and order’ was first mobilized in the late 1950s as Southern governors and law enforcement officials attempted to…

— Michelle Alexander

“But now what? Why, now comes my master, takes me right away from my work, and my friends, and all I like,…

— Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Another site of Leftist struggle [other than Detroit] that has parallels to New Orleans: Palestine. From the central role of displacement to…

— Jordan Flaherty