Thomas Friedman Quotes

It seems the only way to gain attention today is to organize a march and protest something.

I don't think everything is going to get peachy ever. But I think we have to fight for what we believe in.

We must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts.

All epoch-making revolutionary events have been produced not by the written word but by the spoken word.

I'll say this for reformers—they're mighty patient.

America won't be saved because one or 10 people stand up. It will be saved because millions of us stand up.

Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.

Being an activist is not easy.

The challenge is to become part of the struggle, to make a positive difference.

We need a strategy. And the goal is to bring millions of people together.

The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.

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.

I do think that our culture or our psyche as a country I guess, the world or whatever, we're due for a huge event. We're due for a little bit of a revolution or a spotlight or a movement. Something that feels large, something that feels like the 60s. Some sort of unification.

For me, the movement has to be bigger than just a record. For me, a movement represents like taking over the world.

Activism that challenges the status quo, that attacks deeply rooted problems, is not for the faint of heart.

If the Negro is to achieve the goal of integration, he must organize himself into a militant and nonviolent mass movement.

Sometimes a few passionate people change the world; sometimes they start a mass movement and millions do.

Non-co-operation is the quickest method of creating public opinion.

This is a movement. This is not Trump. This is not anything. This is a movement. Remember, it is a movement. We used to say silent majority. It's not a silent majority, it's really a noisy majority.

Everybody wasn't always wasted. Why is punk rock about getting wasted? Isn't it punk rock to be sober and change the world? I thought it was about challenging capitalism? How are you going to challenge capitalism if you're wasted?

Up to now, America has not been a good milieu for the rise of a mass movement. What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation.

I need to hear something about how he's going to bring people together in the spirit, hopefully, of Martin Luther King Jr., and if that's not heard, then we've got to constantly challenge him.

I don't want to directly confront great powers, which we cannot defeat on their terms. They have more money, more clout, more airtime. We cannot be effective without a mass movement, and the American people today are too comfortable to adapt to a mass movement.

I find inspiration everywhere. I love challenges and my favorite thing is to find something ridiculous and be like "if it's all that I have available to me, I am gonna make it look the best that I can".

The objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one who hunches the world along.