Rosa Parks Quotes

Every day before supper and before we went to services on Sundays my grandmother would read the Bible to me, and my grandfather would pray. We even had devotions before going to pick cotton
in the fields. Prayer and the Bible, became a part of my everyday thoughts and beliefs. I learned to put my trust in God and to seek Him as my strength

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free ... so other people would be also free.

I had felt for a long time that, if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done.

I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.

I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.

There is just so much hurt, disappointment, and oppression one can take ... The line between reason and madness grows thinner.

I want to be treated like a human being.

I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die - the dream of freedom and peace.

In it not easy to remain rational and normal mentally in such a setting where, even in our airport in Montgomery, there is a white waiting room ... There are restroom facilities for white ladies and colored women, white men and colored men. We stand outside after being served at the same ticket counter instead of sitting on the inside.

I thought of Emmett Till, and when the bus driver ordered me to move to the back, I just couldn't move.

Each person must live their life as a model for others.

At the time i didn't realize why there was so much Klan activity, but later I learned that it was because African-American soldiers werre returning from World War Iasn acting as if they deserved equal rights because they had served their country.

I had given up my seat before, but this day, I was especially tired. Tired from my work as a seamstress, and tired from the ache in my heart.

Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.

It was just a matter of survivalーlike getting off the roadーso we could exist form day to day.

All I was trying to do was get home from work.

As a child I learned from the Bible to trust in God and not be afraid. And I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. God did away with all my fear.

There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart or to go in the opposite direction, but somehow I felt that if I took on more step, someone would come along to join me.

The overseer beat him, tried to starve him, wouldn't let him have any shoes, treated him so badly that he had a very intense, passionate hatred for white people. My grandfather was the one who instilled in my mother and her sisters, and in their children, that you don't put up with bad treatment from anybody. It was passed down almost in our genes,

To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.

Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.

The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute accepts people of any race. We don't discriminate against anyone. We teach people to reach their highest potential. I set examples by the way I lead my life.

There is no future without education.

I will always work for human rights for all people.

I see the energy of young people as a real force for positive change.

If you want to be respected for your actions, then your behavior must be above reproach. If our lives demonstrate that we are peaceful, humble, and trusted, this is recognized by others.

My only concern was to get home after a hard day's work.

One of my greatest pleasures there was enjoying the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing and knowing that white folks were doing the preparing instead of me. I was 42 years old, and it was one of the few times in my life up to that point when I did not feel any hostility from white people.

Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.

I had been pushed as far as I could stand

I have been refused entrance on the buses because I would not pay my fare at the front and go around to the rear door to enter. That was the custom if the bus was crowded up to the point where the white passengers would start occupying.

There is work to do; that is why I cannot stop or sit still. As long as a child needs help, as long as people are not free, there will be work to do. As long as an elderly person is attacked or in need of support, there is work to do. As long as we have bigotry and crime, we have work to do.

Time begins the healing process of wounds cut deeply by oppression. We soothe ourselves with the salve of attempted indifference, accepting the false pattern set up by the horrible restriction of Jim Crow laws.

I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day.

As far back as I can remember, I knew there was something wrong with our way of life when people could be mistreated because of the color of their skin.

An opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.

We had a saying that we worked "from can to can't," which means working from when you can see (sunup) to when you can't (sundown).

Whites would accuse you of causing trouble when all you were doing was acting like a normal human being instead of cringing.

I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love - that's the goal that we seek, and I think that the more people there are who reach that state of mind, the better we will all be.

I had decided that I would not go anywhere with a piece of paper in my hand asking white folks for any favors. I had made that decision myself, as an individual.

I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.

People need to free their minds of racial prejudice and believe in equality for all and freedom regardless of race. It would be a good thing if all people were treated equally and justly and not be discriminated against because of race or religion or anything that makes them different from others.

It is better to protest than to accept injustice.

Why do you all push us around?

Racial pride and self-dignity were emphasized in my family and community.

I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.

Let us look at Jim Crow for the criminal he is and what he has done to one life multiplied millions of times over these United States and the world. He walks us on a tightrope from birth.

When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night.

As long as there is unemployment, war, crime and all things that go to the infliction of man's inhumanity to man, regardless - there is much to be done, and people need to work together.

I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated. I was not going back.

People have said over the years that the reason I did not give up my seat was because I was tired. I did not think of being physically tired. My feet were not hurting. I was tired in a different way. I was tired of seeing so many men treated as boys and not called by their proper names or titles. I was tired of seeing children and women mistreated and disrespected because of the color of their skin. I was tired of Jim Crow laws, of legally enforced racial segregation.

I have never been what you would call just an integrationist. I know I've been called that ... Integrating that bus wouldn't mean more equality. Even when there was segregation, there was plenty of integration in the South, but it was for the benefit and convenience of the white person, not us.

Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.

I talked and talked of everything I know about the white man's inhuman treatment of the Negro.

My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest ... I did a lot of walking in Montgomery.

Without a vision the people perish, but without courage dreams die.

I was born 50 years after slavery, in 1913. I was allowed to read. My mother, who was a teacher, taught me when I was a very young child. The first school I attended was a small building that went from first to sixth grade. There was one teacher for all of the students. There could be anywhere from 50 to 60 students of all different ages.

One person can change the world.

Since I have always been a strong believer in God, I knew that He was with me, and only He could get me through that next step