We’ve been through some little stormy periods before. I think we’ll overcome it. Benjamin Hooks More Quotes by Benjamin Hooks More Quotes From Benjamin Hooks If you think you are leading and turn around to see no one following, then you are just taking a walk. Benjamin Hooks empowering-others leadership thinking The most enduring contributions made to civilization have not been made by brawn, they have been made by brain. Benjamin Hooks made brain civilization Black men who have succeeded have an obligation to serve as role models for young men entrapped by a vicious cycle of poverty, despair, and hopelessness. Benjamin Hooks role-models black men A good history covers not only what was done, but the thought that went into the action. You can read the history of a country through its actions. Benjamin Hooks government done country We're no longer arguing about riding in the back of the bus, but being the bus driver or the president of the bus company. We're not pushing for the right to buy the hot dog, but selling the hot dog and the right to own the hot dog franchise. Benjamin Hooks diversity dog justice Black Americans are not defeated, the civil rights movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks. Benjamin Hooks There are a lot of ways an oppressed people can rise. One way to rise is to study, to be smarter than your oppressor. The concept of rising against oppression through physical contact is stupid and self-defeating. It exalts brawn over brain. And the most enduring contributions made to civilization have not been made by brawn, they have been made by brain. Benjamin Hooks I wish I could tell you every time I was on the highway and couldn’t use a restroom, my bladder is messed up because of that. Stomach is messed up from eating cold sandwiches. Benjamin Hooks At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from white bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called Ben, usually it was just ‘boy.’ [But] the judges were always fair. The discrimination of those days has changed and, today, the South is ahead of the North in many respects in civil rights progress. Benjamin Hooks