The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Barack Obama1 quote
The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. — Barack Obama · 1965Frederick Douglass1 quote
If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. — Frederick Douglass · 1857Martin Luther King, Jr.1 quote
"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963Pete Seeger1 quote
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome, some day. — Pete Seeger · 1962Pierre Berton1 quote
The march of social progress is like a long and straggling parade, with the seers and prophets at its head and a smug minority bringing up the rear. — Pierre Berton · 1968Sam Cooke1 quote
I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I've been runnin' ever since
It's been a long, a long time comin'
But I know a change gon' come. — Sam Cooke · 1964Steven Pinker1 quote
Believe it or not-and I know that most people do not-violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species' existence. — Steven Pinker · 2011The Five Stairsteps1 quote
Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh child, things'll get brighter. — The Five Stairsteps · 1970Theodore Parker1 quote
I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one... But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice. — Theodore Parker · 1853Thurgood Marshall1 quote
Maybe you can't override prejudice overnight, but the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, ninety-odd years ago. I believe in gradualism. I also believe that ninety-odd years is pretty gradual. — Thurgood Marshall · 1987