Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its...

Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you...

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

I guess it’s the curse of our generation, having to put aside our lives to do the right thing.

In the past, when gays were very flamboyant as drag queens or as leather queens or whatever, that just amused people. And most of the people that come and watch the gay Halloween parade, where...

Until you find a cause you can die for, you are not worthy to live.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

What good is a revolution anyway if it isn’t joyful?

An angry artist tells people what (he thinks) they need to hear. A hungry artist tells people what (he thinks) they want to hear.

To congratulate oneself on one’s warm commitment to the environment, or to peace, or to the oppressed, and think no more is a profound moral fault.

You might lose battles in your life time. However, every person that stands bravely on the side of justice, for people that have no voice, wins the true battle—Gods.

A true patriot never abandons his country at the hour of need.

It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.

A critical element in nearly all effective social movements is leadership. For it is through smart, persistent, and authoritative leaders that a movement generates the appropriate concepts and language that captures the frustration, anger, or...

Buddhism holds that everything is in constant flux. Thus the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it or whether we are to take the lead and create...

The enemy was not the Klan but the inside-outside lock that racism and classism had on the minds of the people: It operated from the inside through self-hate and self-doubt, and from the outside through...

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.

[W]hat possible purpose does this lashing-out serve? Will activists be shamed into recovering their previous enthusiasm? Will Republicans stop their vicious attacks because Obama is lashing out to his left? It was pure self-indulgence; even...

We cannot afford to be discouraged from challenging the corporate control of our food system, our genetic commons, our shared resources, or our democracy. The history of social change in our nation shows that the...

One of the most important skills we can develop for collapse is thecapacity to listen.

The holistic acupuncturist and the sea turtle rescuer may not be able to explain the feeling, ‘We are serving the same thing,’ but they are. Both are in service to an emerging story of the...

The 1970s-80s social movement called U.S. third world feminism functioned as a central locus of possibility, an insurgent social movement that shattered the construction of any one ideology as the single most correct site where...

If not you, who? If not now, when? The worst thing well-meaning people can do is simply let things remain as they are.

At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.We will be judged by “I...

Understand: the task of an activist is not to negotiate systems of power with as much personal integrity as possible–it’s to dismantle those systems.

The way that you eliminate bad and ugly is either through activism and policy making that never tolerates evil — instead of the liberal politically correct policy of accepting evil and accepting other points of...

Poets can’t march in protest or do that sort of thing. I feel that’s against the rules, and pointless. If mankind wants a great big final bang, that’s what it’ll get. One should never protest...

We want to promote activism through different mediums.

The world was in terrible shape, and I’m glad we stood up and said what we believed; but a lot of the time we’d say these beautiful things about justice and fairness and equality, but...

One kernel is felt in a hogshead; one drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. None are too small, too feeble, too poor...

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits...

They built a city of their dreams, with a thriving gift economy and vibrant culture that encouraged all participants to let loose their wildest, most glorious freak. They weren’t protesting; they were celebrating.

Don’t wait for a better world. Start now to create a world of harmony and peace. It is up to you, and it always has been. You may even find the solution at the end...

All struggles against oppression in the modern woeld begin by redefining what had previously been consideered private, non-public and non-political issues as matters of public concern, as issues of justice, as sites of power.

In a world where very few people care if you live or die, there is a light that shines in the distance. It has a name that they call hope and it carries with it...

What Friedan gave to the world was, “the problem that has no name.” She not only named it but dissected it. The advances of science, the development of labor-saving appliances, the development of the suburbs:...

If you join the rat race — you’re in the race of rats.

To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.

To engage in activism that envisions alternatives ways of organizing society and alternative ways of being is to risk membership in society, a sense of belonging, however partial it may be. Activism can make us...

Think about it: virtually every atrocity in the history of humankind was enabled by a populace that turned away from a reality that seemed too painful to face, while virtually every revolution for peace and...

We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort.

Why do I always listen to your insane plans? Why aren’t we at home watching TV like everyone else? What possible difference will any of this make?

If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace.

If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.

There is no one story that will replace the American dream, but storieslike this one—and there are thousands—can inform the myth or mythswe create for building and preserving the next culture. In order to do...

One of the ways that your project, your personal healing, or your social invention can change the world is through story. But even if no one ever learns of it, even if it is invisible...

Anarchy has the flexibility to overcome many of the traditional problems of activism by focusing on revolution not as another cause but as a philosophy of living. This philosophy is as concrete as a brick...

I told my class the other day I have no idea what judicial activism is, … Maybe the best definition of a judicial activist is a judge you don’t like.