Bayard Rustin quotes

When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him. (Bayard Rustin)
We are all one, and if we don't know it we will learn it the hard way. View quote
Bayard Rustin
To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true. View quote
Bayard Rustin
Since Israel is a democratic state surrounded by essentially undemocratic states which have sworn her destruction, those interested in democracy everywhere must support Israel's existence. View quote
Bayard Rustin
Conscription for war is inconsistent with freedom of conscience, which is not merely the right to believe, but to act on the degree of truth that one receives, to follow a vocation which is God-inspired and God-directed. View quote
Bayard Rustin
If we desire a society in which men are brothers, then we must act towards one another with brotherhood. If we can build such a society, then we would have achieved the ultimate goal of human freedom. View quote
Bayard Rustin
God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What God requires of us is that we not stop trying. View quote
Bayard Rustin
You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people. View quote
Bayard Rustin
I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble. View quote
Bayard Rustin
When you're wrong, you're wrong. But when you're right, you're wrong anyhow. View quote
Bayard Rustin
Surely, I must at all times attempt to obey the law of the state. But when the will of God and the will of the state conflict, I am compelled to follow the will of God. (Bayard Rustin)
The Journey of Reconciliation was organized not only to devise techniques for eliminating Jim Crow in travel, but also as a training ground for similar peaceful projects against discrimination in such major areas as employment and in the armed services. View quote
Bayard Rustin
I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart from that issue, I hold that segregation in any part of the body politic is an act of slavery and an act of war. View quote
Bayard Rustin
Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it. View quote
Bayard Rustin
If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end. View quote
Bayard Rustin
The real radical is that person who has a vision of equality and is willing to do those things that will bring reality closer to that vision. . . View quote
Bayard Rustin
The proof that one truly believes is in action. View quote
Bayard Rustin
The moral man is he who is opposed to injustice per se, opposed to injustice wherever he finds it; the moral man looks for injustice first of all in himself. View quote
Bayard Rustin
My activism did not spring from being black...The racial injustice that was present in this country during my youth was a challenge to my belief in the oneness of the human family. View quote
Bayard Rustin
The organizers and perpetuators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader. View quote
Bayard Rustin
My activism did not spring from my being gay, or, for that matter, from my being black. Rather, it is rooted fundamentally in my Quaker upbringing and the values that were instilled in me by my grandparents who reared me. (Bayard Rustin)
I am a Quaker. And as everyone knows, Quakers, for 300 years, have, on conscientious ground, been against participating in war. I was sentenced to three years in federal prison because I could not religiously and conscientiously accept killing my fellow man. View quote
Bayard Rustin
Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted him to dismiss me from his staff because of my homosexuality. View quote
Bayard Rustin
If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end. View quote
Bayard Rustin
The barometer for judging the character of people, in regard human rights, is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian. The judgment as to whether you can trust the future, the social advancement - depending on people - will be judged on where they come out on that question. View quote
Bayard Rustin