110+ John Lewis Quotes On Voting, Justice And Education

John Lewis was an American civil rights leader and politician. He was a leader in the civil rights movement and served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 for his dedication to civil rights and social justice. Following is our collection on famous quotes by John Lewis on voting, leadership, justice.

Top 10 John Lewis Quotes

1. If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.
2. When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come walk in my shoes and I will show you change.
3. I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it.
4. Don`t give up! Don`t give in! Keep the faith! And keep your eyes on the prize!
5. You cannot give up - you have to be persistent and keep pushing, and press on.
6. We never gave up. We didn't get lost in a sea of despair. We kept the faith. We kept pushing and pulling. We kept marching. And we made some progress.
7. When growing up, I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I saw those signs that said white men, colored men. White women, colored women. White waiting. And I didn't like it.
8. To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process.
9. In spite of all of the things, the issues, that we may be confronting today, I'm very hopeful, very optimistic about the future.
10. Races don't fall in love, genders don't fall in love: Individuals fall in love. We all should be free to marry the person that we love.

John Lewis Short Quotes

• The reward for playing jazz is playing jazz.
• Nonviolence is one of those immutable principles that we cannot and must not deviate from.
• I think right now, the focus has got to be on how we hold [Donald] Trump accountable.
• I think all Americans should be hopeful, and try to be optimistic.
• [Donald Trump] is not going to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
• You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way... to get in the way.
• I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.
• The government, both state and federal, has a duty to be reasonable and accommodating.
• You have to go with your gut sometimes, and how you feel.
• I wanted young people to know that I was just a typical child.

John Lewis Quotes About Voting

People should organize people to just turn up and participate in the democratic process. Knock on doors. They may not be old enough to register to vote, but they can urge their teachers, their parents, their grandparents, their mothers, their fathers, and others to get out and vote. — John Lewis

I've said it in the past and I'll say it again today: the vote is precious; it's almost sacred. — John Lewis

People must understand that people were beaten, arrested, jailed, and some people were murdered, while attempting to register to vote, or to get others to register to vote. — John Lewis

John Lewis Quotes About People

It is my hope that people today will see that, in another time, in another period, when we saw the need for people to speak up, to organize, to mobilize, and to do something about injustice, we came together. — John Lewis

I think Donald Trump is dividing the American people. He is not good for America. It's not good for our standing in the rest of the world. To divide people based on race, a color, a religion, a sexual orientation, it's just ... it's just wrong. — John Lewis

Every American has got to recognize, we are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people. We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs because the pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry is out of control ripping us off. — John Lewis

This book [March], in my estimation, is a road map. It is a change agent. It is saying to people, "This is a way". — John Lewis

The vast majority of the American people agree with me and many others. You don't simply repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. Republicans have had six years to come up with a replacement. They got nothing. — John Lewis

The last thing we want is a monolithic viewpoint where six people are standing before a president saying the same thing over and over again. — John Lewis

It is our hope that when people read "March" - Book One, Book Two, and Book Three - that they will understand that another generation of people, especially young people, were deeply inspired by the work of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others. — John Lewis

Sensible people have got to work together. — John Lewis

I think [James Comey] should take a hard look at what he has done. And I think it would not be a bad thing for the American people if he did step down. — John Lewis

Some people think that [it was] Martin Luther King Jr.'s idea to have a boycott. It was a black woman, a teacher, who said we should boycott the buses. You had people like Fannie Lou Hamer; Delta, Mississippi. — John Lewis

John Lewis Quotes About King

I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. I met Dr. [Martin Luther] King when I was 18. These two individuals inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble. So I got in good trouble, necessary trouble. — John Lewis

The book Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, I read it when I was about 17-and-a-half or 18. It changed my life. — John Lewis

I heard Dr. King speaking on the radio, and it seemed like he was saying, "John Robert Lewis, you too can make a contribution. You can get involved!" — John Lewis

John Lewis Quotes About Believe

Many of us in Nashville accepted nonviolence as a way of life, a way of living, not simply as a technique or a tactic. — John Lewis

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 believe it is my obligation to tell the story of the civil rights movement to the next generation. — John Lewis

I truly believe that one day we will get there, we will arrive. And if we do it right in America, maybe, just maybe, we can serve as a model for the rest of the world. — John Lewis

I happen to believe that this election year [2016] is...one of the most important elections that we're going to face in a very long time. I know we hear from time to time that every election is important. This one is very, very important. — John Lewis

You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage. — John Lewis

John Lewis Famous Quotes And Sayings

Even in the civil rights movement, there were so many unbelievable women. They never, ever received the credit that they should have received. They did all of the, and I cannot say it, they did all of the dirty work. Hard work. — John Lewis

Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway retuning from an NAACP meeting in downtown Jackson. And then you go back there years later, and the blood is still on the driveway. They cannot wash it away. — John Lewis

['March'] is a path you must take if you want to move from one point to another point. If you want to make it down this very long and troublesome road, follow this path. Follow this message. Follow this map. And you will get there some day. — John Lewis

Right now what my job is, and I think the job of Democrats and Republicans, is to protect the middle class and working families of this country from some devastating ideas that [Donald] Trump has proposed. — John Lewis

We're not questioning the legitimacy of the outcome of the election. You didn't have Republicans questioning whether or not [Barack] Obama legitimately beat John McCain in 2008. — John Lewis

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. — 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

When I was a student, I studied philosophy and religion. I talked about being patient. Some people say I was too hopeful, too optimistic, but you have to be optimistic just in keeping with the philosophy of non-violence. — John Lewis

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. We saw ourselves doing the work of the Almighty. Segregation and racial discrimination were not in keeping with our faith, so we had to do something. — John Lewis

Maybe, just maybe, there should be a graphic novel dealing with the contribution of the women of the civil rights movement, to tell their story. The pain, the hurt. They raised their children. Some were working as maids, but when they left those kitchens, those homes, they made it to the mass meetings. And they put their bodies on the lines, also. — John Lewis

I remember being at the church a few hours after the church was bombed in Birmingham, the 16th Street Baptist Church. It was very hard and very difficult to stand on that corner across the street from the church. Or to go Mississippi and search for the three civil rights workers who came up missing. There is a lot of trauma. — John Lewis

That's where the outrage should be, not old news, but the fact that we are preparing for the transfer of power. and we have been working with President [Barack] Obama, hand in glove, and I think that they - including the president - should step up and get his people in line and tell them to grow up and accept the fact that they lost the election. — John Lewis

The point is not where Barack Obama was born, the point is is that we've got congressmen on the Democratic side of the aisle that are questioning the legitimacy of President-elect [Donald] Trump who won in an electoral landslide. — John Lewis

I think putting the United States down across the world is not something that a responsible person does. — John Lewis

The advent of the civil rights movement during the 50s and 60s made it very plain crystal clear to me that we had an obligation to do what we could to make real the Constitution of the United States of America. — John Lewis

In the past the great majority of minority voters, in Ohio and other places that means African American voters, cast a large percentage of their votes during the early voting process. — John Lewis

Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse. — John Lewis

Right now, what my job is - pardon me? Those are just words. Right now, what my - my job is right now going beyond media conflicts and words is to say that Donald Trump, among other things, told the American people he would not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and right now Republicans in the House and Senate are doing just that. — John Lewis

The events in Prague, together with the Berlin blockade, convinced the European recipients of American economic assistance that they needed military protection as well: that led them to request the creation of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which committed the United States for the first time ever to the peacetime defense of Western Europe. — John Lewis

I don't have any extraordinary gifts. I'm just an average Joe who grew up very poor in rural Alabama. — John Lewis

If we must grind up human flesh and bones in the industrial machine that we call modern America, then, before God, I assert that those who consume the coal and you and I who benefit from that service, because we live in comfort, we owe protection to those men first and we owe security for their families if they die. — John Lewis

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.' — John Lewis

Today, all across this country there are going to be rallies led by Democrats and others to fight against the devastating impact of repeal of the Affordable Care Act. 20 million people thrown off of health insurance, prescription drug prices raising for seniors, privatization of Medicare: devastation. And we've got to fight back against that. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

[Donald Trump's inauguration] will be the first one that I miss since I've been in Congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right. — John Lewis

Listening to Dr. King on the radio inspired me. Coming under the influence of Jim Lawson inspired me to think that I, too, could do something. — John Lewis

Without prayer, without faith in the Almighty, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings. — John Lewis

You have to be persistent. — John Lewis

Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

When you make mistakes, when you're wrong, you should admit you're wrong and ask people to forgive you. — John Lewis

I would like to think that we have made much more progress, that we've come much further, to have someone like a Donald Trump to emerge as the nominee of a major political party. — John Lewis

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 emerge as a model for the rest of the world. — John Lewis

If someone had told me in 1963 that one day I would be in Congress, I would have said, 'You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about.' — John Lewis

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 of living. — John Lewis

When I was 15 years old and in the tenth grade, I heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. Three years later, when I was 18, I met Dr. King and we became friends. Two years after that I became very involved in the civil rights movement. I was in college at that time. As I got more and more involved, I saw politics as a means of bringing about change. — John Lewis

In 1965, the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7 was planned to dramatize to the state of Alabama and to the nation that people of color wanted to register to vote. — John Lewis

Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble... good trouble, necessary trouble. — John Lewis

What sensible people have got to do is not simply repeal the Affordable Care Act without any alternative, but you've got to sit down and say it's OK, what are the problems. How do we address it? How do we move to universal health care? How do we lower prescription drug costs? How do we make sure that people don't have outrageous deductibles? You just don't throw 20 million people off of health insurance. You don't privatize Medicare. — John Lewis

Too many of us still believe our differences define us. — John Lewis

It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something. — John Lewis

Young people can understand, and must understand, that we had success, we had failures, but we never gave up. We never gave in. We never became bitter. We didn't hate. We continued to press on. And that's what we're saying: There are some ups, there are some downs, and when you're not down, you must have the capacity and the ability to get up and keep going. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

I think that [James] Comey acted in an outrageous way during the [presidential ] campaign [in 2016]. — John Lewis

I don't understand it, how President Johnson can send troops to Vietnam and cannot send troops to Selma, Alabama, to protect people whose only desire is to register to vote. — John Lewis

The party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. — John Lewis

Many young people, many children, are being abused, being put down, being bullied because of their sexual orientation. — John Lewis

Do we do away with protecting of the American people with pre - to make sure that if you have an illness you can get insurance? Do we make sure that young people stay on their parents' health insurance? Do we make sure that there are no caps if you're dealing with cancer and you deal with preexisting conditions? It goes without saying that those patient protections have got to stay in place. — John Lewis

Selma was the turning point. — John Lewis

There's nothing wrong with a little agitation for what's right or what's fair. — John Lewis

Without the Sisters of St. Joseph, I might not be standing here. — John Lewis

We all remember that [Donald] Trump was one of the leaders of the so-called birther movement trying to delegitimize the presidency of our first African-American president Barack Obama, which is an outrage. — John Lewis

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have. — John Lewis

I am very, very hopeful about the American South - I believe that we will lead America to what Dr. King called 'the beloved community.' — John Lewis

No one can say that this was the decisive and [Russians hacking ] was what elected [Donald] Trump, but clearly his behavior during the campaign in terms of what he said in the week or two before the election was unacceptable. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

We have had a great relationship with the White House.We just had every cabinet person designee of ours meet with the cabinet members of the [Barack] Obama administration on Friday. I've met numerous times with Denis McDonough, they've been nothing but helpful. — John Lewis

We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters. — John Lewis

We must be headlights and not taillights. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope. — John Lewis

Do I think Russians supported [Donald Trump]? Do I think they tried to get him elected? Do I think it worked against Clinton? I do. And that is something that has to be investigated. — John Lewis

The vote is precious. It's almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before. — John Lewis

We built a coalition of conscience, and that we can do it again, and we can go forward, and help redeem the soul of America. — John Lewis

What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and its grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible. — John Lewis

Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile... Hate is too big a burden to bear. — John Lewis

What has been doing in the last week, attacking Hollywood actresses [Meryl Streep] for criticizing him, I mean what would is this guy [Donald Trump] living in? — John Lewis

It's going to be very difficult. I don't see the president-elect [Donald Trump] as a legitimate president. — John Lewis

I have met every president since President Kennedy. And I think Barack Obama must be listed as one of the best. This young man has been so inspiring - not just to people in America but to people all around the world. — John Lewis

I studied the philosophy and the discipline of non-violence in Nashville as a student. And I staged a sitting-in in the fall of 1959 and got arrested the first time in February 1960. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want. — John Lewis

I think, in fact, I think President [Barack] Obama could step up. — John Lewis

I don't think Trump really believes in all this stuff. But he thinks this would be his ticket to the White House - at least to get the Republican nomination. — John Lewis

The press is supposed to serve as a check on government. — John Lewis

Now we have black and white elected officials working together. Today, we have gone beyond just passing laws. Now we have to create a sense that we are one community, one family. Really, we are the American family. — John Lewis

Life Lessons by John Lewis

1. John Lewis was a champion of civil rights and social justice, and his life is an example of the power of peaceful protest and civil disobedience to bring about meaningful change.
2. He taught us that even small acts of courage can have a huge impact, and that it is possible to fight for what is right without resorting to violence.
3. He also showed us that it is possible to maintain a spirit of hope and optimism even in the face of adversity and oppression.