The Best John Lewis quotes

It’s always tea–time. — Lewis Carroll

Yes, that’s it! Said the Hatter with a sigh, it’s always tea time. — Lewis Carroll

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

No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time. — Lewis Carroll

Irony has only emergency use. Carried over time it is the voice of the trapped who have come to enjoy their cage. — Lewis Hyde

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. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

I think the administration can do a lot of good by telling folks that are on their side of the aisle, look, we may have lost the election on the Democrat side, but it’s time to come together. — John Lewis

The time has come The walrus said To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–And sealing wax–Of cabbages and kings–And why the sae is boiling hot–And whether pigs have wings. — Lewis Carroll

I studied the philosophy and the discipline of non–violence in Nashville as a student. And I staged a sitting–in in the fall of 1959 and got arrested the first time in February 1960. — John Lewis

I believe race is too heavy a burden to carry into the 21st century. It’s time to lay it down. We all came here in different ships, but now we’re all in the same boat. — John Lewis

At a time when we are doing everything we can to reduce our cost base, we have unfortunately been faced with regular increases to the service charges we pay for some of our shops in shopping centers. — John Lewis

I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again today: the vote is precious; it’s almost sacred. — John Lewis

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

The vote controls everything that you do. — John Lewis

People must understand that people were beaten, arrested, jailed, and some people were murdered, while attempting to register to vote, or to get others to register to vote. — John Lewis

In 1965, the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7 was planned to dramatize to the state of Alabama and to the nation that people of color wanted to register to vote. — John Lewis

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

I may miss a few votes during this period, but with god’s grace i will be back on the front lines soon. — John Lewis

To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process. — John Lewis

When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn’t become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville, as a student. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. — Lewis Carroll

Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle. — Lewis Carroll

I think putting the United States down across the world is not something that a responsible person does. — John Lewis

Up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky… — Lewis Carroll

But, said Alice, if the world has absolutely no sense, who’s stopping us from inventing one? — Lewis Carroll

What a strange world we live in…Said Alice to the Queen of hearts — Lewis Carroll

If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does. — Lewis Carroll

We’re one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house. — John Lewis

We are one people; we are only family. And when we finally accept these truths, then we will be able to fulfill Dr. King’s dream to build a beloved community, a nation, and a world at peace with itself. — John Lewis

He worked a lifetime to help others and make the world a better place in which to live. — John Lewis

There may be some difficulties, some interruptions, but as a nation and as a people, we are going to build a truly multiracial, democratic society that maybe can emerge as a model for the rest of the world. — John Lewis

He shook my dozing soul and threw the cold water of reality in my face, so that life and God and heaven and hell broke into my world with glory and horror. (on CS Lewis) — John Piper

I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours. — Lewis Carroll

Well, what Cory Booker and John Lewis are right about is to talk about the racist past of Donald Trump. — John Lewis

It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t see the president–elect [Donald Trump] as a legitimate president. — John Lewis

Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. — John Lewis

This man [ Donald Trump] won in an electoral landslide. — John Lewis

President–elect [Donald] Trump won 30 of 50 states, more counties since Ronald Reagan. — John Lewis

John Lewis stood up and said in an interview that Donald Trump was not a legitimate president. It’s insanity. — John Lewis

I want [Donald] Trump to send out a tweet saying that he’s going to keep his campaign promises. — John Lewis

I would like to think that we have made much more progress, that we’ve come much further, to have someone like a Donald Trump to emerge as the nominee of a major political party. — John Lewis

What has been doing in the last week, attacking Hollywood actresses [Meryl Streep] for criticizing him, I mean what would is this guy [Donald Trump] living in? — John Lewis

I think right now, the focus has got to be on how we hold [Donald] Trump accountable. — John Lewis

Donald Trump] is not going to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. — John Lewis

For a person [like John Lewis] that is a champion of voter rights to question whether or not Donald Trump legitimately won an election or not is an incredible position to take five days before an inauguration. — John Lewis

Do I think Russians supported [Donald Trump]? Do I think they tried to get him elected? Do I think it worked against Clinton? I do. And that is something that has to be investigated. — John Lewis

I don’t think Trump really believes in all this stuff. But he thinks this would be his ticket to the White House–at least to get the Republican nomination. — John Lewis

I can tell just from working closely for the last year an half with president–elect [Donald Trump] and even over the course of the last six weeks, he has no problem with differing opinions in a room. — John Lewis

We all remember that [Donald] Trump was one of the leaders of the so–called birther movement trying to delegitimize the presidency of our first African–American president Barack Obama, which is an outrage. — John Lewis

Right now what my job is, and I think the job of Democrats and Republicans, is to protect the middle class and working families of this country from some devastating ideas that [Donald] Trump has proposed. — John Lewis

I think, in fact, I think President [Barack] Obama could step up. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

The last thing we want is a monolithic viewpoint where six people are standing before a president saying the same thing over and over again. — John Lewis

I’m gonna say that I have followed every presidential campaign since the campaign of President [John F.] Kennedy in 1960. — John Lewis

President trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

To question the legitimacy of the next United States president, you know, and you’re worried about a tweet that says, hey, why don’t you get back to work instead of questioning my legitimacy? Too bad. — John Lewis

The lessons of nonviolence are universal. Not just for America. — John Lewis

Selma helped make it possible for hundreds and thousands of people in the South to become registered voters and encouraged people all across America to become participants in a democratic process. — John Lewis

Housing prices go down, crime goes up, it’s ridiculous, we’re going to keep america great. we’re going to keep our standards. we’re going to keep our history and our culture. — John Lewis

I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

The March on Washington was a March for Jobs and Freedom. There are still too many people who are unemployed or underemployed in America–they’re black, white, Latino, Native American and Asian American. — John Lewis

The advent of the civil rights movement during the 50s and 60s made it very plain crystal clear to me that we had an obligation to do what we could to make real the Constitution of the United States of America. — John Lewis

Be prepared to organize nonviolent workshops–a teach–in around what is happening in America today. Organize your teachers and schoolmates, and be prepared to engage in some action. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

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. — John Lewis

I think it is an imperfect arms control agreement. It’s not a friendship treaty. But when America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies. — John Lewis