Gloria Steinem Quotes

Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules.

It is not leaders who make movements; it is movements that make leaders.

Collective action is a means of power, a means by which individuals can more fully realize their individual values.

In the words of Frederick Douglas, power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will. We must be that demand. We are the ones we've been waiting for.

You can tell people of the need to struggle, but when the powerless start to see that they really can make a difference, nothing can quench the fire.

Don't mourn, Organise

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.

There is no degree of human suffering which in and of itself is going to bring about change. Only organisation can change things.

We have to realize we are building a movement.

Turmoil is everywhere, and the whole world is waiting for solutions to come from the top down. That's not how it works - community change from the bottom up makes a real difference.

Disobey the rules; ask for more; leave your wretchedness behind; organize with your brothers and sisters; never accept the hand of fate.

Democracy comes alive not when government does anything, because government cannot be depended on to rectify serious injustices. It comes alive when people organize and do something about it.

Remember that the revolution is what is important, and each one of us, alone, is worth nothing.

I want to act, if I can, as a bridge for people who read 'Shock Doctrine' or 'No Logo'. People who are sitting out for whatever reasons.

The first step in community organization is community disorganization.

I think that we should remember that social change can happen when people join together with some strength.

To be part of building a movement, you have to keep moving.

I am worried that Americans I have met on my journey across the country, seem very hopeless and are feeling powerless to make change and are feeling passive. I'm not blaming them. But one thing we need at a time like this is for people to feel empowered and angry.

Individuals bearing witness cannot do the work of social movements, but they can break a corrosive and demoralizing silence.

I once dreamed of launching revolutions, sparking movements, mobilizing the masses, and changing everything. Now I’ve learned the beauty and profound significance of simply loving my neighbor.

We have to organize. We have to build up coalitions across all of these people who are considered "the other." If we all banded together and built coalitions that were truly intersectional, we would be in power. I believe in the power of the people.

To change societies you need to organize with others who share your views.

Let me tell you humans something. You are not fighters. You don’t have what it takes to actually change your current living situations. You can’t even organize a decent group to combat oppression. How can beings of such low stature hope to do anything? You are not heroes. Stop pretending you are helping by playing commando and get out of the way of someone who can.

True resistance begins with people confronting pain... and wanting to do something to change it.

Every great movement in the world starts with a tiny group of people who simply refuse to accept a situation.