Ayanna Pressley Quotes

Black leadership has to recognize that principles more than speech, character more than a claim, is greater in advancing the cause of our liberation than what has transpired thus far.

I'm very grateful for the platform that I've had in my life to speak out about the things I care about.

You have to stick up for what you believe in. And that, to me, is the biggest thing you can do about driving inclusion.

But, sir, I shall take the path of duty and shall not swerve from it.

If it was all about me, I'd do a whole lot of pop records, make a whole lot of money, just rake in the dough. But it's never been all about me. It's all about being a voice for the voiceless. People who can't speak for themselves, who don't have a mic, don't have a say.

To the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that needs assistance, To the future in the distance, Give yourselves.

Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good.

In any human-rights campaign, everybody must do what they can.

My self-imposed mandate is to be the voice for the voiceless.

The real power of any movement is how we work together with other social justice movements.

I believe we can make progress on bringing true equality and fairness back to our government if we continue to work together and make our voices heard.

I consider myself a social justice person.

I can relate to pushing yourself because you want to help and move culture toward justice.

I will, till the day I die, be an advocate for the d-word: diversity.

I'm going to keep doing the comedy and the art that I do. I'm going to keep uplifting marginalized voices, and I think that's my place to do that.

I've worked for everything I've had, and I can't think of a better way of using it than standing up for what's right, and what's required to build a better society.

When marginalized people gain voice and center their own experiences, things begin changing. And we see this in all kinds of grassroots movements.

Being the captain is a great privilege and a responsibility to lead a great group with different cultures.

I think our work as movement leaders isn't just about our own visibility but rather how do we make the whole visible. How do we not just fight for our individual selves but fight for everybody?

You have to do what you believe in.

I know for certain people I'm championing a struggle that they're going through.

Social media are a catalyst for the advancement of everyone's rights. It's where we're reminded that we're all human and all equal. It's where people can find and fight for a cause, global or local, popular or specialized, even when there are hundreds of miles between them.

I don't have one role that I want to play. I guess... I want to be a producer. I want to be an activist. I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls, everybody who is good at what they do and deserve a shot at it.

I think it is important that you have people from all different vanguards, from all different walks of society and different viewpoints to be focused on the struggle for equality and democracy. We need as many champions for the cause and as many events as possible to help keep this in focus.

I would never, never do anything unless I believed in it.