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Top 30 Bayard Rustin Quotes (2025 Update)

Bayard Rustin Quote: “Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it.”

1. “Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “We are all one – and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.”

2. “We are all one – and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”

3. “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

4. “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

Bayard Rustin Quote: “Gays are beginning to realize what blacks learned long ago: Unless you are out here fighting for yourself then nobody else will help you. I think the gay community has a moral obligation to continue the fight.”

5. “Gays are beginning to realize what blacks learned long ago: Unless you are out here fighting for yourself then nobody else will help you. I think the gay community has a moral obligation to continue the fight.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

6. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble.”

7. “I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

8. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

9. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.”

10. “The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “There is a strong moralistic strain in the civil rights movement that would remind us that power corrupts, forgetting that the absence of power also corrupts.”

11. “There is a strong moralistic strain in the civil rights movement that would remind us that power corrupts, forgetting that the absence of power also corrupts.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “If I do not fight bigotry wherever it is, bigotry is thereby strengthened. And to the degree that it is strengthened, it will, thereby, have the power to turn on me.”

12. “If I do not fight bigotry wherever it is, bigotry is thereby strengthened. And to the degree that it is strengthened, it will, thereby, have the power to turn on me.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

13. “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

Bayard Rustin Quote: “Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don’t fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later, it will return on me.”

14. “Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don’t fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later, it will return on me.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “The proof that one truly believes is in action.”

15. “The proof that one truly believes is in action.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

16. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.”

17. “You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

18. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

19. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

20. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.”

21. “To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “The organizers and perpetuators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader.”

22. “The organizers and perpetuators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

23. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

24. “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

Bayard Rustin Quote: “Twenty-five, 30 years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.”

25. “Twenty-five, 30 years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “It occurred to me shortly after that that it was an absolute necessity for me to declare homosexuality, because if I didn’t I was a part of the prejudice. I was aiding and abetting the prejudice that was a part of the effort to destroy me.”

26. “It occurred to me shortly after that that it was an absolute necessity for me to declare homosexuality, because if I didn’t I was a part of the prejudice. I was aiding and abetting the prejudice that was a part of the effort to destroy me.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “Bigotrys birthplace is the sinister back room of the mind where plots and schemes are hatched for the persecution and oppression of other human beings.”

27. “Bigotrys birthplace is the sinister back room of the mind where plots and schemes are hatched for the persecution and oppression of other human beings.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

28. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “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.”

29. “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.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. But when you’re right, you’re wrong anyhow.”

30. “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. But when you’re right, you’re wrong anyhow.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “In these cases, the police figure prominently in the incidents that triggered the rioting. Sometimes they are not directly involved, but rumors of police brutality flood through the ghetto. Although it may be of some interest to search for a pattern, no very profound purpose is served by concentrating on who struck the match. There are always matches lying around. We must ask why there was also a fuse and why the fuse was connected to a powder keg.”

31. “In these cases, the police figure prominently in the incidents that triggered the rioting. Sometimes they are not directly involved, but rumors of police brutality flood through the ghetto. Although it may be of some interest to search for a pattern, no very profound purpose is served by concentrating on who struck the match. There are always matches lying around. We must ask why there was also a fuse and why the fuse was connected to a powder keg.”

— Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin Quote: “We must everywhere be part of the cry for civilian review boards, not in the naive belief that they are a panacea but in the conviction that police conduct is not the exclusive responsibility of commissioners and politicians. Police must be answerable to the citizenry they presumably protect, and if they have been educated to any other concept of their role, now is the time to educate them.”

32. “We must everywhere be part of the cry for civilian review boards, not in the naive belief that they are a panacea but in the conviction that police conduct is not the exclusive responsibility of commissioners and politicians. Police must be answerable to the citizenry they presumably protect, and if they have been educated to any other concept of their role, now is the time to educate them.”

— Bayard Rustin

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