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" 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. "

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" 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

Family

Community

Working Together

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I would say the country is a different country. It is a better country. The signs I saw when I was growing up are gone and they will not return. In many ways the walls of segregation have been torn down. "

" A few days after Bloody Sunday, there was demonstration in more than 80 American cities. People were demanding that the government act. "

" 1963, because of the sense of moral authority that the civil rights movement had, we were able to get people to respond, because of the quality of our demand and our sense of moral authority. "

" Without our faith, we wouldn't have been able to succeed. On many occasions, before we'd go out on a sit-in, before we went on the freedom ride, before we marched from Selma to Montgomery, we would sing a song or say a prayer. Without our faith, without the spirit and spiritual bearings and underpinning, we would not have been so successful. "

" 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. "

" I grew up very poor in rural Alabama. "

" I couldn't say no to A. Philip Randolph and no to Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men, I loved them, I admired them, and they were my heroes. "

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

John Lewis

You

Vote

" Customs, traditions, laws should be flexible, within good reason, if that is what it takes to make our democracy work. "

" The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society. "

" Without the Sisters of St. Joseph, I might not be standing here. "

" I believe in forgiveness; I believe in trying to work with people. "

" Dr. King was one of the most inspiring human beings I ever met. He was such a warm, compassionate, and loving human being. "

" I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned. "

" 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. "

" We should be creative, and we should accommodate the needs of every community to open up the democratic process. We should make it easy and accessible for every citizen to participate. "

" The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. made me very, very sad, and I mourned and I cried like many of our citizens did. "

John Lewis

Made

" 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.' "

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

John Lewis

Prayer

Bird

" People come up to me in airports, they walk into the office, and they say, 'I'm going to cry; I'm going to pass out.' And I say, 'Please don't pass out; I'm not a doctor.' "

John Lewis

Doctor

Walk

" Selma was the turning point. "

" In Selma, Alabama, in 1965, only 2.1 percent of blacks of voting age were registered to vote. The only place you could attempt to register was to go down to the courthouse. You had to pass a so-called literacy test. And they would tell people over and over again that they didn't or couldn't pass the literacy test. "

" 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. "

" 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.' "

" Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. "

" 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. "