--- title: "10 Democratic Quotes By Bill Ayers" description: "10 Democratic quotes by Bill Ayers. Plus more from Bill Ayers and more Democratic sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png" --- > [Students for a Democratic Society was also affiliated with the civil rights movement everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-also-affiliated-with-the-civil/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png) > [ \[Students for a Democratic Society\] it's a social democratic program. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a-social-democratic-program/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b0/bill-ayers-1848_democracy_students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a_2607406.png) > [Students for a Democratic Society was founded in 1961.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-founded-in-1961/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-fo_369198.png) > [ It was the Democratic Party, it was the Presidential election. We elected a president \[Barack Obama\]; we didn't elect a king. So… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-presidential-election-we/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed9/bill-ayers-1848_barack_it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-p_3139209.jpg) > [Now teach-ins are fairly common or they become common place. But in 1965, the Students for Democratic Society in Ann Harbor organized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they-become-common-place-but-in/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/bill-ayers-1848_advocating_now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they_1428292.jpg) > [The end of Students for a Democratic Society is viewed by me and a lot of other people as a terrible sorry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-society-is-viewed-by-me-and-a/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/057/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-soc_2011947.jpg) > [It transmitted because on the campuses, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was recruiting, was organizing. Students for a Democratic Society was founded at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-student-nonviolent/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/bill-ayers-1848_awareness_it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-s_219341.png) > [That's where we all kind of were in the mid-1960s. Students for a Democratic Society grew from a small group of socialists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the-mid-1960s-students-for-a/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b91/bill-ayers-1848_1960s_that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the_237696.png) > [ \[Students for a Democratic Society\] was on many campuses and it was a powerful organization. It was founded by Tom Hayden, who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on-many-campuses-and-it-was-a/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1b/bill-ayers-1848_bernie-sanders_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on_2598828.png) > [The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep school.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-went-to-a-boarding-school-39/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/138/bill-ayers-1848_black_the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-wen_129313.png) ## Other authors on Democratic ## More by Bill Ayers > [ It wasn't \[Barack\] Obama per se; it was the feeling on the ground; it was seeing an old black woman in a wheelchair being… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-wasn-t-barack-obama-per-se-it-was-the-feeling-on-the-ground-it-was/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I didn't respond to people thrusting microphones at me and asking me questions that were unanswerable in a sound bite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-didn-t-respond-to-people-thrusting-microphones-at-me-and-asking-me/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I haven't been silent. I teach, I lecture at universities, I write, I'm not silent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-haven-t-been-silent-i-teach-i-lecture-at-universities-i-write-i-m/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ One of the great crimes of the Bloomberg/Klein administration \[in New York City\] is that they've removed themselves from communities, as if communities have… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/one-of-the-great-crimes-of-the-bloomberg-klein-administration-in-new/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I was involved in the anti-war movement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-was-involved-in-the-anti-war-movement/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ \[Lyndon \] Johnson was responding to a black freedom movement that was tearing the country open and he did what he had to do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/lyndon-johnson-was-responding-to-a-black-freedom-movement-that-was/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ I'm wary of government. Part of \[the Tea Party\] impulse is to dislike and be worried about the rich. I'm that way too. So… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-m-wary-of-government-part-of-the-tea-party-impulse-is-to-dislike/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ I'd been arrested many times by then. I'd been an organizer, so many things had changed over those three years \[from 1965 till 1968\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d-been-an-organizer-so-many/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [You cannot live a political life, you cannot live a moral life if you're not willing to open your eyes and see the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/you-cannot-live-a-political-life-you-cannot-live-a-moral-life-if-you/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I was a good liberal in some sense at that point. I wanted to end a war. I wanted to support the civil rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-was-a-good-liberal-in-some-sense-at-that-point-i-wanted-to-end-a/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep school. Five years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-went-to-a-boarding-school-39/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ \[The whole first year at university\] was a great time for me and great time of awakening. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-whole-first-year-at-university-was-a-great-time-for-me-and-great/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [The truth is that the antiwar movement was powered by the working class. The students were the ones that got the media and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-truth-is-that-the-antiwar-movement-was-powered-by-the-working/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [There was one moment when J. Edgar Hoover and us had the same distorted lens about who we were - "a real threat," you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/there-was-one-moment-when-j-edgar-hoover-and-us-had-the-same/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [Every politician - FDR, Lyndon Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama - they're all conservative by nature. They are part of the big thing and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/every-politician-fdr-lyndon-johnson-abraham-lincoln-barack-obama-they/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democratic/bill-ayers/#itemlist", "name": "10 Democratic Quotes By Bill Ayers", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Students for a Democratic Society was also affiliated with the civil rights movement everywhere.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-also-affiliated-with-the-civil/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Students for a Democratic Society was also affiliated with the civil rights movement everywhere.” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[Students for a Democratic Society] it's a social democratic program.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a-social-democratic-program/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b0/bill-ayers-1848_democracy_students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a_2607406.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b0/bill-ayers-1848_democracy_students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a_2607406.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b0/bill-ayers-1848_democracy_students-for-a-democratic-society-it-s-a_2607406.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“[Students for a Democratic Society] it's a social democratic program.” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Students for a Democratic Society was founded in 1961.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-founded-in-1961/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-fo_369198.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-fo_369198.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-fo_369198.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Students for a Democratic Society was founded in 1961.” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It was the Democratic Party, it was the Presidential election. We elected a president [Barack Obama]; we didn't elect a king. So all the speculation in the next three months - people camped out at his house, and wondering who's coming to visit, who's going to be the Secretary of State - that all struck me as inane and stupid.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-presidential-election-we/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed9/bill-ayers-1848_barack_it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-p_3139209.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed9/bill-ayers-1848_barack_it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-p_3139209.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed9/bill-ayers-1848_barack_it-was-the-democratic-party-it-was-the-p_3139209.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was the Democratic Party, it was the Presidential election. 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The way it happened was that we were advocating for a strike that we advocated that the faculty should strike in solidarity with the Vietnamese struggle.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they-become-common-place-but-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/bill-ayers-1848_advocating_now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they_1428292.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/bill-ayers-1848_advocating_now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they_1428292.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1bd/bill-ayers-1848_advocating_now-teach-ins-are-fairly-common-or-they_1428292.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Now teach-ins are fairly common or they become common place. 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But I regret a lot of that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-society-is-viewed-by-me-and-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/057/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-soc_2011947.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/057/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-soc_2011947.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/057/bill-ayers-1848_democratic_the-end-of-students-for-a-democratic-soc_2011947.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The end of Students for a Democratic Society is viewed by me and a lot of other people as a terrible sorry…” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It transmitted because on the campuses, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was recruiting, was organizing. Students for a Democratic Society was founded at Michigan just a couple years before I got there. So, there was a kind of a churning of political awareness. It was just beginning.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-student-nonviolent/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/bill-ayers-1848_awareness_it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-s_219341.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/bill-ayers-1848_awareness_it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-s_219341.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/bill-ayers-1848_awareness_it-transmitted-because-on-the-campuses-s_219341.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It transmitted because on the campuses, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was recruiting, was…” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That's where we all kind of were in the mid-1960s. Students for a Democratic Society grew from a small group of socialists at the university of Michigan into a national organization, and in many ways, its growth was driven by the Vietnam War.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the-mid-1960s-students-for-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b91/bill-ayers-1848_1960s_that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the_237696.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b91/bill-ayers-1848_1960s_that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the_237696.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b91/bill-ayers-1848_1960s_that-s-where-we-all-kind-of-were-in-the_237696.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That's where we all kind of were in the mid-1960s. Students for a Democratic Society grew from a small group…” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[Students for a Democratic Society] was on many campuses and it was a powerful organization. It was founded by Tom Hayden, who passed away very recently. It was one of the founders of SDS and that chief writer of the Port Huron Statement, which is still worth reading. It's kind of the Bernie Sanders campaign document in a funny way.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on-many-campuses-and-it-was-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1b/bill-ayers-1848_bernie-sanders_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on_2598828.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1b/bill-ayers-1848_bernie-sanders_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on_2598828.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1b/bill-ayers-1848_bernie-sanders_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-on_2598828.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“[Students for a Democratic Society] was on many campuses and it was a powerful organization. It was founded…” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep school. Five years later, a quarter of us were in SDS, in Students for Democratic Society. Not because we were particularly chosen or because we were as I say, we were lucky but we were mainly luckily to grow up at a time where this black freedom movement was really defining the moral character of what it meant to be a citizen and a person.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Ayers" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-went-to-a-boarding-school-39/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/138/bill-ayers-1848_black_the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-wen_129313.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/138/bill-ayers-1848_black_the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-wen_129313.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/138/bill-ayers-1848_black_the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-wen_129313.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep…” — Bill Ayers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democratic/bill-ayers/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democratic/bill-ayers/", "name": "Democratic Quotes by Bill Ayers", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democratic/bill-ayers/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/bill-ayers-1848_civil-rights_students-for-a-democratic-society-was-al_1143779.png" }, "description": "10 Democratic quotes by Bill Ayers. 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