I'm an optimist in my heart - I'm a hopeless pollyanna just like my mother - but a pessimist in my head. I think that's the dialectic we all need to be in. — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
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… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
I didn't respond to people thrusting microphones at me and asking me questions that were unanswerable in a sound bite. — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
I haven't been silent. I teach, I lecture at universities, I write, I'm not silent. — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
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… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
[Lyndon ] Johnson was responding to a black freedom movement that was tearing the country open and he did what he had to do… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
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… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
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]. — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
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… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
I was a good liberal in some sense at that point. I wanted to end a war. I wanted to support the civil rights… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep school. Five years… — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
[The whole first year at university] was a great time for me and great time of awakening. — Bill Ayers Copy Share Image
![“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 wheeled by her son waving a big American flag, and then seeing a guy with his baby in his arms saying, "I didn't want her to miss tonight! I wanted to be able to tell her!" And…” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/806/bill-ayers-1848_able_it-wasn-t-barack-obama-per-se-it-was-the_20409.jpg)
![“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 nothing to say about what their needs and aspirations are for themselves and for their children.” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cfb/bill-ayers-1848_administration_one-of-the-great-crimes-of-the-bloomberg_36172.jpg)
![“[Lyndon ] Johnson was responding to a black freedom movement that was tearing the country open and he did what he had to do as a conservative politician.” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4e4/bill-ayers-1848_black_lyndon-johnson-was-responding-to-a-black_39317.jpg)
![“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 I don't find them to be as atrocious as most people do, as your liberals do. I'm not a liberal.” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f9a/bill-ayers-1848_dislike_i-m-wary-of-government-part-of-the-tea-p_60556.jpg)
![“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].” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f8/bill-ayers-1848_arrested_i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d_88658.jpg)
![“[The whole first year at university] was a great time for me and great time of awakening.” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/37e/bill-ayers-1848_awakening_the-whole-first-year-at-university-was-a_193300.jpg)