When we were organizing voter-registration drives, going on the Freedom Rides, sitting in, coming here to Washington for the first time, getting arrested, going to jail, being beaten, I never thought -- I never dreamed -- of the possibility that an African American would one day be elected president of the United States.

John Lewis

If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.

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You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage.

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Our struggle is a struggle to redeem the soul of America. It's not a struggle that lasts for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. It is the struggle of a lifetime, more than one lifetime.

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Young people can understand, and must understand, that we had success, we had failures, but we never gave up. We never gave in. We never became bitter. We didn't hate. We continued to press on. And that's what we're saying: There are some ups, there are some downs, and when you're not down, you must have the capacity and the ability to get up and keep going.

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I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. I met Dr. [Martin Luther] King when I was 18. These two individuals inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble. So I got in good trouble, necessary trouble.

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us. by John Lewis

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

It is my hope that people today will see that, in another time, in another period, when we saw the need for people to speak up, to organize, to mobilize, and to do something about injustice, we came together.

together people needs

I thought I was going to die a few times. On the Freedom Ride in the year 1961, when I was beaten at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, I thought I was going to die. On March 7th, 1965, when I was hit in the head with a night stick by a State Trooper at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death, but nothing can make me question the philosophy of nonviolence.

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When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come walk in my sh... by John Lewis

When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come walk in my shoes and I will show you change.

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We have come a long way in America because of Martin Luther King, Jr. He led a disciplined, nonviolent revolution under the rule of law, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. We've come a long way, but we still have a distance to go before all of our citizens embrace the idea of a truly interracial democracy, what I like to call the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself.

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I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it.

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If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take that long hard look and just believe that if your consistent, you will succeed

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We built a coalition of conscience, and that we can do it again, and we can go forward, and help redeem the soul of America.

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You cannot give up - you have to be persistent and keep pushing,... by John Lewis

You cannot give up - you have to be persistent and keep pushing, and press on.

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Don`t give up! Don`t give in! Keep the faith! And keep your eyes... by John Lewis

Don`t give up! Don`t give in! Keep the faith! And keep your eyes on the prize!

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We never gave up. We didn't get lost in a sea of despair. We kept the faith. We kept pushing and pulling. We kept marching. And we made some progress.

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Even in the civil rights movement, there were so many unbelievable women. They never, ever received the credit that they should have received. They did all of the, and I cannot say it, they did all of the dirty work. Hard work.

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In spite of all of the things, the issues, that we may be confronting today, I'm very hopeful, very optimistic about the future.

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I truly believe that one day we will get there, we will arrive. And if we do it right in America, maybe, just maybe, we can serve as a model for the rest of the world.

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We will stand up for what is right, for what is fair and what is just. Health care is a right and not a privilege.

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