John Lewis, an iconic figure in the civil rights movement, dedicated his life to fighting injustice and advocating for equal rights for all.
As a young man, he participated as a Freedom Rider, marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Later, as a member of Congress, he continued to champion issues of justice, equality, and civil rights.
Known for his unwavering commitment to nonviolence and his belief in the power of “good trouble,” Lewis inspired countless individuals to take a stand against oppression and to participate actively in shaping a more just society.
His words and actions serve as a beacon for those seeking guidance on issues of justice, activism, and moral leadership.
Throughout his life, John Lewis shared many insights on the importance of perseverance, hope, and the need for continued activism in the face of adversity.
(You can check out his memoirs and biographies in this list.)
Whether addressing youth, fellow politicians, or the general public — his words were always marked by a deep understanding of the nation’s history and a vision for a more inclusive, hopeful, and equitable future.
Discover the wisdom and insights of John Lewis in this collection of quotes. Let them serve as a testament to his enduring legacy and his unwavering belief in the power of collective action, courage, and the human spirit.
Whether you’re an activist, a student, or simply someone striving to make the world a better place, these words will inspire you to act with purpose, conviction, and hope:
The Best John Lewis Quotes
Famous Quotes
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
— John Lewis
“I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that we have an obligation to condemn speech that is racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, or hateful.”
— John Lewis, in a speech in Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement
“Whatever good work you do, whatever powerful, profound work — do it because it’s right or because it’s necessary. Do it to make change for the better. Do it because you know you must. Don’t do it for credit.”
— John Lewis, Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation
“It is only through examining history that you become aware of where you stand within the continuum of change.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America
“When you see something that is not the way it should be, don’t be afraid. Speak up, speak out, be courageous.”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“Destruction doesn’t work. Rioting isn’t a movement. We must be constructive and not destructive. Chaos is sowing more division and discord.”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“I had long ago decided that I wasn’t going to be bound by the mental shackles of hate, anger, and discontent. Forgiveness is medicine for the mind, balm for the body, and healing for the heart.”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“There is a power that can raise you up even from the lowliest of places and guide you to the forefront of change if you truly want to create a better world.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“It is the responsibility, yet the individual choice, of each of us to use the light we have to dispel the work of darkness, because if we do not, then the power of falsehood rises.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“To truly revolutionize our society, we must first revolutionize ourselves. We must be the change we seek if we are to effectively demand transformation from others.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“The only reason unjust systems exist is that the masses of people silently give their consent and believe these systems are necessary — whether for their security or survival.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
On Peace
“Darkness cannot overcome darkness, only light can do that. Violence can never overcome violence, only peace can do that. Hate can never overcome hate, only love can do that.”
— John Lewis, riffing on a famous MLK quote, in his book Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change
“It is so strange to me that we have learned to fly in the air like birds, learned to swim in the ocean like fish, shoot a rocket to the moon, but we have not yet learned how to live together in harmony with one another.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“There’s a quote of Dr. King’s that I use from time to time, which I rephrase: ‘To be bold, to be creative, to never give up, and never to hate — for hate is too big a burden to bear. I have decided to love.’”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“During the 1960s, we protested with non-violent methods. There is something peaceful, cleansing, and wholesome about being orderly and not threatening.”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone — any person or any force — dampen, dim or diminish your light. Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates… Release the need to hate, to harbor division and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society. The work of love, peace, and justice will always be necessary, until their realism and their imperative takes hold of our imagination, crowds out any dream of hatred or revenge, and fills up our existence with their power.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
→ Read more quotes about peace
On Voting
“The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it.”
— John Lewis
“As it stands now, the voting section of this bill will not help the thousands of black people who want to vote, it will not help the citizens of Mississippi, of Alabama, and Georgia who are qualified to vote but lack a sixth-grade education. One man, one vote is the African cry. It is ours, too. It must be ours.”
— John Lewis, in a speech on the March on Washington
“I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Alabama for the right to vote. I am not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us.”
— John Lewis, 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, August 2013
“Black men and women were not allowed to register to vote. My own mother, my own father, my grandfather, and my uncles and aunts could not register to vote because each time they attempted to register to vote, they were told they could not pass the literacy test.”
— John Lewis, in an interview
“Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.”
— John Lewis, on PBS
“Selma helped make it possible for hundreds and thousands of people in the South to become registered voters and encouraged people all across America to become participants in a democratic process.”
— John Lewis, in an interview
“To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process.”
— John Lewis, in an interview
On Justice
“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“It takes courage to admit that we participate in killing, violence, and hate around the world. And once you face the truth, it is difficult to retreat back into a state of unconsciousness. Becoming aware of the truth requires action, and that is when the struggle begins.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Lynching and vigilantism were considered duties, the necessary protection of men who were guarding the sanctity of social boundaries and the “purity” of their lineage. No matter the rationale, these ideas put a virtuous face on centuries of brutal history that actually robbed our aggressors of their moral grounding and made them creative participants in violence.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Informed activism requires reading the newspaper, tracking bills through the Library of Congress’s THOMAS website, and watching legislative debates on C-SPAN. It also means learning which legislators on all levels sit on committees that affect your issue.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“When you burn down a building or topple a car, the violence drowns out the injustice of what’s being done to you. It puts you on the same moral level as the people whose violence you are protesting. You’re no longer on the higher ground or plane. You make enemies of the people you need to win over to effect change.”
— John Lewis, Carry On
“Soul force is the ability to counter the forces of injustice with fearlessness, knowing that your soul is connected to the greatest force in the universe. Threats, violence, and aggression are simply tools that are used to make us doubt our capacity to overcome.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
→ Read more quotes about justice
On Civil Rights
“There is still much more work to do. One movement will never offer all the growth humanity needs to experience. To expect so is to build your hopes on a puff of smoke, on a whispered breath; it is to anticipate an illusion.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Rioting is not a movement. It is not an act of civil disobedience. I think it is a mistake for people to consider disorganized action, mayhem, and attacks on other people and property as an extension of any kind of movement. It is not. It is simply an explosion of emotion. That’s all. There is nothing constructive about it. It is destructive.”
— John Lewis, in a speech in Walking with the Wind
“In terms of our elected officials, I think we need to ask…: How far should we go with our need to know before we completely veer off into the personal and the private and leave behind any chance of having a legitimate debate or discussion or discourse about the issues at hand?”
— John Lewis, in a speech in Walking with the Wind
“We were very aware that our civility demonstrated above all the absurdity of brutalizing peaceful, law-abiding citizens and detaining them from exercising their constitutional rights.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“If we are truly to learn the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement, the Holocaust, or the conflict in Northern Ireland, we must concede that discomfort breeds dislike, dislike breeds disdain, disdain breeds contempt, and contempt breeds hate.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“No government, no multinational corporation, no agency at all could counter the mandates of a unified world community. And that is why so much energy and resources are invested in division and separation.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We called it ‘making a way out of no way.’ So when we were standing in protest facing police dogs and fire hoses, we knew without any doubt that somebody who was greater than us all would make a way out of no way and protect the defenders of the truth.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“The question for us as a society is whether we participate in any way in the corruption of the defenseless, the undereducated, and the poor in spirit. We may not be able to stop the violence of others, but we can stop our own. A child is born in innocence, and this violence does not emerge out of thin air. It is created, fomented, and nurtured in them to their detriment.”
— John Lewis
On Democracy
“A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.”
— John Lewis, on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
“We are involved now in a serious revolution. This nation is still a place of cheap political leaders who build their careers on immoral compromises and ally themselves with open forms of political, economic and social exploitation. What political leader here can stand up and say, “My party is the party of principles?”
— John Lewis, March: Book Two
“There was a time when politicians needed to be great orators because the people themselves were grappling with the challenges of conscience, trying to perceive what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong.’ But today, not only do we miss the eloquence of public speaking, but the moral compass of so many leaders seems to be skewed.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Governments and corporations do not live. They have no power, no capacity in and of themselves. They are given life and derive all their authority from their ability to assist, benefit, and transform the lives of the people they touch. All authority emanates from the consent of the governed and the satisfaction of the customer.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“President Eisenhower warned us decades ago against feeding the enormous appetite of the military-industrial complex. And since that time we have disregarded the admonition of a president and a general and proceeded to revolve our entire economy around the industries of war.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“What is the purpose of a nation if not to empower human beings to live better together than they could individually? When government fails to meet the basic needs of humanity for food, shelter, clothing, and even more important — the room to grow and evolve — the people will begin to rely on one another, pool their resources and rise above the artificial limitations of tradition or law. Each of us has something significant to contribute to society be it physical, material, intellectual, emotional, or spiritual”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“I meet so many ambitious young politicians and leaders who want to jump to the head of the line. They do not know how we arrived at this point in our history as a nation, but they believe they should be appointed to lead us into the future. They think that because they are educated, articulate, and talented someone should usher them down the red carpet to a throne of leadership. But real leaders are not appointed. They emerge out of the masses of the people and rise to the forefront through the circumstances of their lives. Either their inner journey or their human experience prepares them to take that role. They do not nominate themselves. They are called into service by a spirit moving through a people that point to them as the embodiment of the cause they serve.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“By the force of our demands, our determination and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces and put them back together in the image of God and democracy.”
— John Lewis, March: Book Two
“Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.”
— John Lewis, speech at Goodwin College, 2013
On Education
“I believe that teachers — whether in elementary schools, at the secondary level, or at colleges and universities — every teacher deserves the Nobel Peace Prize just for maintaining order in our schools!”
— John Lewis
“I loved going to the library. It was the first time I ever saw Black newspapers and magazines like JET, Ebony, the Baltimore Afro-American, or the Chicago Defender. And I’ll never forget my librarian.”
— John Lewis, March: Book One
“Even though the truth can’t be denied or erased, it can be systemically obscured, strategically misinterpreted, and hidden from mainstream comprehension”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We need to make books available to children so they can easily learn about the world, and they can follow their imaginations. Children who read maintain their sense of wonder and ask questions — necessary questions — that make us examine why things are the way they are.”
— John Lewis
“There are hundreds and thousands of young Americans who cannot or will not receive an education, because in order to get an education, you have to spend money. Students come out of college and universities with unbelievable debt. It’s not right, it’s not fair, and it’s not just, in a society such as ours. And those dollars are not going to the teachers.”
— John Lewis
“Be prepared to organize nonviolent workshops — a teach-in around what is happening in America today. Organize your teachers and schoolmates, and be prepared to engage in some action.”
— John Lewis
On Faith
“The power of faith is transformative. It can be utilized in your own personal life to change your individual condition, and it can be used as a lifeline of spiritual strength to change a nation.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Faith, to me, is knowing in the solid core of your soul that the work is already done, even as an idea is being conceived in your mind. It is being as sure as you are about your dreams as you are about anything you know as a hard fact.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Whenever the people finally reject the efforts to fragment their collective energies into warring factions and remember their divine union with one another, when they throw off material distractions and irrelevant negativity and hear their souls speak with one voice, they will rise up. And whatever is in their path will either transform or transpire.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Martin Luther King Jr. was much more than a dreamer. He believed that faith had no meaning unless it had the power to resolve the problems of our daily lives.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Each and every one of us has the power to turn our enemies around because we are all a spark of the divine. It does not matter whether we are fit or weak, short and scrawny, or big and strong. There is no adversary who can defeat us if we believe in our own inner capacity to overcome. Sometimes we have to gain tools to overcome our adversaries. We might need to study, to get help, to pray, or develop a plan, but there is no obstacle we as human beings cannot overcome.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
Short Quotes
“Some people have told me that I am a rare bird in the blue sky of dreamers.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“America, a nation destined for greatness but tarnished by a persistent, nagging untruth”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“I believed innocently and profoundly as a child that the world could be a better place.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We are one people, one family, the human family, and what affects one of us affects us all.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Fury spends itself pretty quickly when there’s no fury facing it.”
— John Lewis, March: Book One
More Quotes
“Every generation leaves behind a legacy. What that legacy will be is determined by the people of that generation. What legacy do you want to leave behind?”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“These young people are saying we all have a right to know what is in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and the food we eat. It is our responsibility to leave this planet cleaner and greener. That must be our legacy.”
— John Lewis, on youth climate activists in a statement released in September 2019
“Instead of suggesting that people with cultures and customs we do not understand, people with different color skin, or those who speak another language are somehow beneath us, instead of developing an elaborate rationale to justify our discomfort, it is more honest to simply admit our insecurity and gain acceptance.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We could not waste time harboring bitterness or resentment. We knew that our focus had to be on what we hoped to create, not the indignities we were pressing to leave behind.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We think of ourselves as more enlightened, more developed than the ‘primitive’ peoples our civilizations have supplanted, yet in all our advancement, we are responsible for more death, more suffering, more murder and mayhem than any period in recorded history.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We saw that our attackers were also victims, victims of a negative indoctrination that taught the false values of superiority and inferiority, the sanction of violence and brutality, and the justification of inhumanity and hate.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Malcolm [X] talked about the need to shift our focus from race to class, both among one another and between ourselves and the white community. He said he believed that was the root of our problems, not just in America, but all over the world. Malcolm was saying, in effect, that it is a struggle for the poor — for those who have been left out and left behind — and that it transcends race.”
― John Lewis, March: Book Three
“When we set our minds against one another, when we focus on destructive energy and propagate the negative notions of separation, division, discrimination, rejection, domination, and war, we waste our power in a futile attempt to debase, degrade, and even destroy the light in others.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We in the movement decided to actualize our belief that the hatred we experienced was not based on any truth, but was actually an illusion in the minds of those who hated us.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We have a ‘fast-food mentality’ that expects an instant return on our investment of time, attention, and effort, a return that is concrete and clear. We are so comfortable charging forward and succeeding through our aggression and innovation that the idea of patience can seem contrary to our instincts.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“We no longer dwell in that daydream. We were shaken to realism by the harshness of what we have witnessed in the last few years — the vilification of President Obama, a drive to wreck his legacy and undo the progress we have made as a nation in the last hundred years, a disdain for the sick and the poor, militarization of the police, and the weaponizing of government not to serve as an advocate, but as an agent of oppression and compliance.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
“Nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society. Why? Because human beings are the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.”
— John Lewis, Across That Bridge
