139 Quotes by Rosa Parks

It takes more than one person to bring about peace - it takes all of us.

I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.

I had felt for a long time, that if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.

Racial pride and self-dignity were emphasized in my family and community.

I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons...

Why do you all push us around?

I was ready to die but give my consent never. Never, never.

I had been pushed as far as I could stand to be pushed. I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen.