Cornel West Quotes

I'm a political poet - let us say a 'human' poet, a poet that's concerned with the plight of people who suffer. If words can be of assistance, then that's what I'm going to use.

We shall suffer no attachment to literature, no taste for abstract discussion, no love of purely intellectual theories, to seduce us from our devotion to the cause of the oppressed, the down trodden, the insulted and injured masses of our fellow men.

It is the duty of every human to fight for the freedom of others, We have to continue to struggle for each other.

If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.

If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That's not going to happen if you care only about yourself.

You can only appreciate freedom when you find yourself in a position to fight for someone else's freedom and not worry about your own.

I feel that my purpose is to shed light on some of the darker sides of our world, and to lend a hand and a voice to people struggling.

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight While little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight While there is a drunkard left, While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, While there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!

June Jordan, who died of cancer in 2002, was a brilliant, fierce, radical, and frequently furious poet. We were friends for thirty years. Not once in that time did she step back from what was transpiring politically and morally in the world. She spoke up, and led her students, whom she adored, to do the same.

Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.

The cry of the oppressed has entered not only into my ears, but into my soul, so that while I live, I cannot hold my peace.

Pacifism as a mass movement aims to avoid suffering; pacifists often say that no cause is worth suffering or dying for. The ethos of Solidarity is based on an opposite premise - that there are causes worth suffering and dying for.

The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough.

To throw oneself to the side of the oppressed is the only dignified thing to do in life.

I like movies that resonate, that give voice to the voiceless.

To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being. You have to care about people who have no power.

No one who passively endures an injustice against himself has the material in him to struggle for the rights of others. The one who patiently forbears becomes an accessory to the injustice done to others. He who resists the injustice which he himself meets can open up the way to a higher right for others.

It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.

As a liberal, I am morally obligated to be pragmatic. What good do I do poor people, elderly people, people who are being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation if I'm not realistic about accomplishing something.

True freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear

I think everybody should have the same anger towards the injustice that's happening and the hatred that's happening, and just fight it with love and compassion.

We had a motto in my school: 'Men for Others.' And it was there that my faith became something vital. My north star for orienting my life. And when I left high school, I knew that I wanted to battle for social justice.

Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality in a revolutionary.

I'm very mindful of trying to do something good in the world. When I see injustice in the world, it's very hard for me.

Knowing that there is a community of people on every corner of this planet that believes in justice, that is willing to sacrifice, and that is willing to take a stand is the most heartening thing.