Matthew Heineman Quotes

As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge.

It is not one government or another that can solve all of the problems. It's you.

I really feel like people who want to change things need to go out and change it themselves and not look to politicians to do that.

It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect.

Ours is a country where anything can be accomplished if enough people get angry... because, in America, we act on our collective anger.

I learnt that if I want to make any difference, or changes to my world, then I've got to be involved. We need passion - that's how things change.

There's nothing quite as powerful as people feeling they can have impact and make a difference. When you've got that going for you, I think it's a very powerful way to implement change.

Change happens from the bottom up - all of us as individuals deciding that we will and we do have an impact.

I really believe in the power of the individual to make change, and our family is a real collection of individuals.

It is no longer appropriate for me as an American to sit by and expect my government to get it done.

I learned in my four decades in Washington that one person can make a difference.

Change never comes from the White House. It comes from your house and my house.

Most politicians will not stick their necks out unless they sense grass-roots support ... neither you nor I should expect someone else to take our responsibility.

People say that the government should be doing this Yeah, but the government is not doing this. So we do.

The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community.

We can't sit around waiting for big government, big business, big religion etc. to save us. We need to get informed and take inspired action.

It takes time for people to understand how, as an individual, I can have an impact on the way that society works.

We want to use our site to galvanize people to give but also to take important steps toward real change.

You can complain about problems, and you can suffer from the ramifications of issues that are social in nature and impact you, but the best thing you can do is get off your couch, get out of your home and go do something about it.

I've done community organizing my whole life and I think to myself, as an organizer, we don't wait for people to come to us and say, 'Help us organize something.' We go out into the community, and we bring the skills to a group of people to organize themselves.

People may recognize me as some sort of superhero, but it's different. Spider-Man and all these other superheroes, they get superpowers and do what they want to save the city. If we need to save Hong Kong, we can't rely on superpowers, we can just rely on the people.

Even if you can't be an activist every day, when you can be, do it.

Every person has the ability to influence change. I am grateful that my voice counts, and I am able to influence change. But more than that, there is a certain amount of activism that is engrained in me.

Small acts by millions of people - imagine the impact of that. If someone changes one thing, they're likely to change two things, and then three things. Then they're likely to demand that from their leadership.

Our nation's leaders are fallible. It is therefore time for us to be our own heroes. We can and must be the leaders that are so desperately needed.