Top 100 Resistance Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “If you fight you won’t always win. But if you don’t fight you will always lose.”

— Bob Crow

52. “Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”

— Alice Walker

53. “I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”

— Henry David Thoreau

54. “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

— Volodymyr Zelensky

55. “Never give in, never back down.”

— Andy Biersack

56. “Historically, the most terrible things – war, genocide, and slavery – have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.”

— Howard Zinn

57. “Art is a war – between ourselves and the forces of self-sabotage that would stop us from doing our work. The artist is a warrior.”

— Steven Pressfield

58. “Put your ass where your heart wants to be.”

— Steven Pressfield

59. “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

60. “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”

— Steven Pressfield

61. “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

— Frederick Douglass

62. “Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

— Steven Pressfield

63. “Black man, you are on your own.”

— Steve Biko

64. “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never allow us to bring about genuine change.”

— Audre Lorde

65. “Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?”

— Tupac Shakur

66. “There is no justice in following unjust laws.”

— Aaron Swartz

67. “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.”

— Rosa Luxemburg

68. “Think for yourself and question authority.”

— Timothy Leary

69. “Continued persistence overcomes almost all resistance.”

— Mark Victor Hansen

70. “I don’t care if the whole world is against you or teasing you or saying you are not gonna make it. Believe in yourself, no matter what.”

— Michael Jackson

71. “As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.”

— Noam Chomsky

72. “Don’t give up! Don’t give in! Keep the faith! And keep your eyes on the prize!”

— John Lewis

73. “I would rather be a rebel than a slave.”

— Emmeline Pankhurst

74. “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

75. “Freedom is not given – it is taken.”

— Subhas Chandra Bose

76. “I’m not a number, I’m a free man.”

— Patrick McGoohan

77. “You’ve got to find a way to survive because they win when your soul dies.”

— Tupac Shakur

78. “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”

— Henry David Thoreau

79. “I don’t give up because I don’t give up. I don’t believe in it.”

— Johnny Cash

80. “Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it.”

— Augusto Boal

81. “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

82. “There are 3 groups of employees in any change journey: ‘Advocates’, ‘Observers’ and ‘Rebels’. Each reacts differently to organisational change and will have different levels of resistance.”

— Peter F Gallagher

83. “The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

84. “We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

85. “The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power.”

— Wael Ghonim

86. “Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn. Forth, Eorlingas!”

— J. R. R. Tolkien

87. “I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.”

— Ernesto Che Guevara

88. “They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

89. “Change resistance is inevitable, ignore it at your peril.”

— Peter F Gallagher

90. “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”

— Dolores Huerta

91. “If you can outlast that discomfort, I guarantee you, baby, on the other side of it is success.”

— Eric Thomas

92. “Never surrender, it’s all about the faith you got: don’t ever stop, just push it ’till you hit the top and if you drop, at least you know you gave your all to be true to you, that way you can never fall.”

— Tupac Shakur

93. “When people ask us how long does it take for something to manifest, we say, It takes as long as it takes you to release the RESISTANCE. Could be 30 years, could be 40 years, could be 50 years, could be a week. Could be tomorrow afternoon.”

— Esther Hicks

94. “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

— Zora Neale Hurston

95. “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.”

— Lilla Watson

96. “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

— Maya Angelou

97. “So if you are the big tree, we are the small axe. Ready to cut you down, to cut you down.”

— Bob Marley

98. “The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.”

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

99. “Where there is oppression, there will be resistance.”

— Assata Shakur

100. “Stand for right, even if you stand alone.”

— Thomas S. Monson