80 Inspiring John Lewis Quotes to Live By

John Lewis, a towering figure in the American civil rights movement and longtime U.S. Congressman from Georgia, left behind a legacy of powerful words that continue to inspire generations.

His words—spoken during marches, from podiums, in congressional hearings, and in quiet moments of reflection—capture the essence of a man committed to “good trouble” and peaceful resistance in the face of injustice.

These quotes span his early days as a Freedom Rider and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to his later years as the “conscience of Congress.”

They reflect Lewis’s unwavering faith in democracy, his belief in the power of ordinary people to create extraordinary change, and his vision of a beloved community where dignity and respect transcend our differences. 

Who is John Lewis?

John Lewis (1940-2020) emerged from the segregated South to become a pivotal figure in American civil rights and politics.

As a student activist, he organized Nashville lunch counter sit-ins and joined the Freedom Riders challenging segregation on interstate buses.

His leadership in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and his courage on “Bloody Sunday” in Selma—where state troopers fractured his skull during a peaceful march—demonstrated his unwavering commitment to nonviolent resistance.

After decades of activism, Lewis served Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for 33 years, becoming known as the “conscience of Congress.”

Throughout his life, he remained dedicated to voting rights, equality, and justice, embodying his philosophy of “good trouble”—the necessary disruption of unjust systems through moral action.

His autobiography “Walking with the Wind” and graphic novel series “March” continue to inspire new generations to pursue a more just society.

Famous & Inspirational Quotes

1. “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
2. “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
3. “You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage.”
4. “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.”
5. “The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.”
6. “We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to speak up, to speak out.”
7. “We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against. And it doesn’t matter whether they are black or white, Latino, Asian or Native American, whether they are straight or gay, Muslim, Christian, or Jews.”
8. “I believe race is too heavy a burden to carry into the 21st century. It’s time to lay it down. We all came here in different ships, but now we’re all in the same boat.”
9. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
10. “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.”
11. “Faith is being so sure of what the spirit has whispered in your heart that your belief in its eventuality is unshakable.”
12. “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
13. “I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.”
14. “History has proven time and again that you cannot regulate the heart.”
15. “I say to people today, ‘You must be prepared if you believe in something. If you believe in something, you have to go for it. As individuals, we may not live to see the end.'”

On Civil Rights & Justice

16. “Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.”
17. “I remember back in the 1960s—late ’50s, really—reading a comic book called ‘Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Story.’ Fourteen pages. It sold for 10 cents. And this little book inspired me to attend non-violence workshops, to study about Gandhi, about Thoreau, to study Martin Luther King Jr., to study civil disobedience.”
18. “Sometimes you have to not just dream about what could be—you get out and push, and you pull, and you preach. And you create a climate and environment to get those in high places, to get men and women of goodwill in power to act.”
19. “We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house… and through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. For hate is too heavy a burden to bear.”
20. “I would say the country is a different country. It is a better country. The signs I saw when I was growing up certainly don’t exist today. The only signs I see today are occasional Confederate flags.”
21. “We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want.”
22. “Too many of us still believe our differences define us.”
23. “We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.”
24. “There’s nothing wrong with a little agitation for what’s right or what’s fair.”
25. “If you’re not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you’re consistent, you will succeed.”
26. “It is my hope that people today will see that, in another time, in another period, when we saw wrong, we addressed it.”
27. “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.”

On Voting Rights

28. “Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.”
29. “The vote is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society.”
30. “It was very painful, very painful… to see the country turn back, trying to take away the right to vote.”
31. “The right to vote is precious and almost sacred, and one of the most important blessings of our democracy.”
32. “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.”
33. “People must understand that we won the right to vote and we’re going to use it for good.”
34. “Young people are educated and informed, and they want to participate. They believe in their capacity to create change.”
35. “When you make mistakes, when you’re wrong, you should admit you’re wrong and ask people to forgive you.”

On Leadership & Democracy

36. “A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few.”
37. “What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and it’s grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.”
38. “We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.”
39. “We are one people, one family, the American family, and we all live in the same house.”
40. “The civil rights movement was based on faith. Many of us who were participants in this movement saw our involvement as an extension of our faith.”
41. “Sometimes I hear people saying, ‘Nothing has changed.’ Come walk in my shoes and I will show you change.”
42. “Maybe our forefathers and foremothers all came to this great land in different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”
43. “Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.”
44. “We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jails over and over again. And then you holler, ‘Be patient.’ How long can we be patient?”
45. “We must bring the issue of mental illness out into the sunlight, out of the shadow, out of the closet, deal with it, treat people, have centers where people can get the necessary help.”

On Perseverance & Faith

46. “I’m not giving up. I’m not giving out. I’m not giving in.”
47. “Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile… Hate is too big a burden to bear.”
48. “Before we went on any protest, whether it was sit-ins or the freedom rides or any march, we prepared ourselves, and we were disciplined. We were committed to the way of peace, the way of non-violence, the way of love, the way of life as the way to live.”
49. “I tell people, ‘If you believe in something, you have to go for it. As individuals, we may not live to see the end.'”
50. “We are fighting for an unarmed truth and unconditional love.”
51. “You have to have the capacity and the ability to take what people did, and how they did it, and forgive them and move on.”
52. “You have to tell the whole truth, the good and the bad, maybe some things that are uncomfortable for some people.”
53. “My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.”
54. “Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.”

On Personal Philosophy

55. “I think my whole life has been one of sort of daring, and sort of sailing against the wind instead of just going with the wind.”
56. “I really believe that all of us, as Americans… we all need to be treated like fellow human beings.”
57. “Some people think that we’re moving too far too fast. Others think we’re still taking too long.”
58. “Before we went on any protest, we would have to prepare ourselves for the discipline of non-violence, the teaching of Gandhi, the teaching of Jesus, of how to respect the dignity and the worth of every human being.”
59. “Sometimes you have to be a headlight and not a taillight.”
60. “I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins – I was only 16 years old – we went down to the public library trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for colors.”
61. “Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble… good trouble, necessary trouble.”
62. “You have to believe that it’s going to come, that’s it not too far away, that it is possible, that we can make it, that this will be a better country, that this will be a better world.”
63. “We’re one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house.”
64. “We need to make the world a better place. We can do it.”

Legacy & Reflection

65. “When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn’t become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville, as a student.”
66. “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 read everything.”
67. “I’ve been arrested 45 times. I’ve seen my friends and colleagues beaten. I’ve been jailed for just trying to have breakfast.”
68. “My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers.”
69. “I don’t think that the movement would have moved forward if some of us had not been willing to make a stand, to be arrested and go to jail.”
70. “I thought I was going to die a few times. On the Freedom Ride in the year 1961, when I was beaten at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, I thought I was going to die. On March 7th, 1965, when I was hit in the head with a night stick by a State Trooper at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I thought I was going to die.”
71. “I loved comics. I loved newspaper comics.”
72. “I first became active in politics during the summer of 1960, when I was 20 years old.”
73. “There are still forces in America that want to divide us along racial lines, religious lines, sex, class. But we’ve come too far; we’ve made too much progress to stop or to pull back. We must go forward. And I believe we will get there.”
74. “We need comprehensive immigration reform. Dr. King wouldn’t be pleased at all to know that there are millions of people living in the shadow, living in fear in places like Georgia and Alabama.”
75. “There may be some difficulties, some interruptions, but as a nation and as a people, we are going to build a truly multiracial, democratic society that maybe can serve as a model for the rest of the world.”
76. “I saw racial discrimination as a young child. I was 4 years old, and my mother said we’re going to the theater. And after we bought tickets and popcorn, we went upstairs to the theater, to the balcony, and all of the little white children went downstairs.”
77. “I studied the philosophy and the discipline of non-violence in Nashville as a student. And I staged a sit-in in the fall of 1959 and got arrested the first time in February 1960.”
78. “In my heart, I’m very sad. I’m angry. I want to cry. Sometimes I feel like crying, but I don’t want to cry. But tears are in the corners of my eyes.”
79. “I grew up very poor in a rural area of Alabama and I saw it. I can tell you – I witnessed it first-hand. If it hadn’t been for the federal government, where would I be?”
80. “There’s no room in American society for discrimination or violence against any individual or group.”

Wrapping It Up

The words of John Lewis continue to resonate long after his passing in 2020, serving as both a mirror reflecting how far we’ve come and a compass pointing toward the work that remains.

His quotes embody the qualities that defined him—moral clarity, courage, and an unshakable commitment to human dignity.

What makes Lewis’s words so powerful is that they were never empty rhetoric; they were lived principles backed by a lifetime of action and sacrifice.

From the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the floor of Congress, Lewis demonstrated that change requires both vision and persistence, both moral conviction and strategic patience.

As we face today’s challenges to democracy and human rights, Lewis’s wisdom offers a timeless reminder that the path to justice is neither straight nor easy but always worth pursuing.