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" 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. "

John Lewis

Spiritual

Prayer

" If it hadn't been for that march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, there would be no Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. "

" We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want. "

" You have to be persistent. "

John Lewis

Persistent

You

" 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. "

" It's a shame and a disgrace that so few people take part in the political process. "

" 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.' "

" I think President Barack Obama has been a good president. "

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

John Lewis

Prayer

Bird

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" MLK, Jr. taught me how to say no to segregation, and I can hear him saying now... when you straighten up your back, no man can ride you. He said stand up straight and say no to racial discrimination. "

John Lewis

Saying

Man

" Selma was the turning point. "

" Obama is not an African American president, but a president of all Americans. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, Hispanic, he's the president of all races. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it. "

John Lewis

Go For It

Happy

" Following the teaching of Gandhi and Thoreau, Dr. King, it set me on a path. And I never looked back. "

John Lewis

Path

Never

" 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. "

" You have to tell the whole truth, the good and the bad, maybe some things that are uncomfortable for some people. "

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

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

" 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? "

" 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. "

" Too many of us still believe our differences define us. "

" It's not just Barack Obama, but I doubt Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton would have made it to the White House without Selma. "

" 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.' "

" I was honored to have an opportunity to speak on August 28th, 1963. "

" I think Dr. King would be pleased to see the number of elected officials of color - African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and progressive whites. "