Fighting for justice alone is very costly. But what is life worth if you let others tear you down and bring you down to their level of irresponsibility and cowardice?
Phyllis Carter
If I am not for myself,
Who will be for me?
If I am only for myself,
What am I?
And, if not now,
When?
Rabbi Hillel
"If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it."
― Abraham Lincoln
― Abraham Lincoln
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us
from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
― Abraham Lincoln
from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
― Abraham Lincoln
"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence."
― Frederick Douglass
― Frederick Douglass
"God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even
though I think it is hopeless."
― Chester Nimitz
― Chester Nimitz
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
― Mark Twain
― Mark Twain
"If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it."
― Abraham Lincoln
― Abraham Lincoln
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
― Desmond Tutu
― Desmond Tutu
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"
― Rudyard Kipling,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"
― Rudyard Kipling,
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