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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Social progress10 quotes
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 · 1853If 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 · 1857I 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 · 1964"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. — Barack Obama · 1965Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh child, things'll get brighter. — The Five Stairsteps · 1970All 10 quotes →Progress9 quotes
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 · 1853If 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 · 1857"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. — Barack Obama · 1965Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh child, things'll get brighter. — The Five Stairsteps · 1970Believe 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 · 2011All 9 quotes →Political progress5 quotes
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 · 1857I 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 · 1964"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. — Barack Obama · 1965Maybe 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 · 1987Civil rights3 quotes
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 · 1964"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963Maybe 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 · 1987Activism1 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 · 1857Advance of civilization1 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 · 2011American politics1 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 · 1987Moral progress1 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 · 1853Nature of progress1 quote
The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. — Barack Obama · 1965Optimism1 quote
Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh child, things'll get brighter. — The Five Stairsteps · 1970Politics1 quote
"Wait" has almost always meant "Never." — Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1963Things get better1 quote
Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh child, things'll get brighter. — The Five Stairsteps · 1970