Van Jones Quotes

Hate is a powerful energy. If you want to do anything, resist hate. Resist it.

Some people see protesting as a bit of a dirty thing, and certainly the idea of getting arrested was not on people's radar.

The history in our country speaks to our highest values of people who did not accept things as they are and go along with them. They resisted, they refused to accept the world as it is, they demanded it to be a better reflection of their highest dreams and highest aspirations.

If the government or the parties won't address our needs, we will. It's about direct action, even civil disobedience.

In this House, we may belong to different parties, but we serve one country.

We need to also act out, and anything that [Donald] Trump does, anything he's trying to do that we don't agree with or anything this country is doing in general that we don't agree with, we need to protest, we need to make our voices heard. And that has to go beyond Twitter - for me as well.

Freedom to rock, freedom to talk. Freedom, raise your fist and yell.

Countless people...will hate the New World Order...and will die protesting against it...we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents.

The big companies are like steel and activists are like heat. Activists soften the steel, and then I can bend it into pretty grillwork and make reforms.

If people wake up, think critically, and get angry, we get connected to that courage that the founding generation meant us to have. History shows when millions just don't go along, resist at any level - and I'm talking about all the way up to bipartisan impeachment and arrest of the leaders of the coup - then it can't happen.

Upon the profound discontent of the young in every country do I set my faith. I beg you, the young, to be discontented. I pray that you may rebel against what is wrong, not with feeble negative complaining but with strong positive assertion of what is right for all humanity.

We're seeing the sort of liberal phenomenon of activists that are speaking out. And they have every right to do so. I think we need to respect that in this country. It's just part of the democratic process.

Standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.

When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.

What would things been like [in Russia] if during periods of mass arrests people had not simply sat there, paling with terror at every bang on the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but understood they had nothing to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people?

Power cedes nothing without a demand.

We are tired of words, of betrayals, of indifference...they years are gone when the farm worker said nothing an did nothing to help himself...Now we have new faith. Through our strong will, our movement is changing these conditions...We shall be heard.

What I am is an encourager. I encourage all who deserve freedom to fight for that. And if you can't win by yourself, then find other people to be in solidarity with.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

If we all work together, we can totally disrupt the system.

I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously.

It was a very interesting experience. You know, I don't think words could do it justice. Roseanne [Barr] is a comedian, a laugh a minute at every turn, and this time around she was actually going to be the vice presidential candidate of another Green Party candidate. So I guess she's still in the mix in some ways,sort of learning her politics as she goes, like a lot of us Americans who are getting thrown under the bus and for whom it is not a laughing matter. We are going to stand up and take this seriously and refuse to be intimidated out of the future that we deserve.

Get informed. Get outraged. Get inspired. Get active.

The world - and America - has been defined by people who haven't necessarily abided by the laws and the rules. Civil disobedience is part of our nation's history and has redirected our country in many instances, from the feminist movement to the Civil Rights movement and beyond.

If you're aware of injustice, you can either ignore it, say there is nothing you can do about it, complain about it and not do anything, or put your energies into doing something about it.