Hal Holbrook Quotes

I want to continue to speak out on issues that matter to me. I want to have even more of a voice.

It's very important that people who are feeling the need to do something... get activated.

The rebellious mood of the country during those [60th] years allowed me to plug right back into my old hatreds. I could scream and holler, as I did on the albums, against religion, government, big business - all those assholes and their values. That hatred was very real.

Young people have been at the forefront of every great social movement in our country's history.

There never was a social change in America without angry people at the heart.

There's a big difference between charity and between activism and philanthropy. They're very different things and I think, you know, everybody should find a passion or a cause that they can really get behind, but it has to be organic.

The great thing about social movements is everybody gets to be a part of them.

As a young man, causes of one kind or another engaged me, and I thought the media is where you express yourself in that. I lived with the illusion, for quite a long time, that if you described something accurately, something would be done about it.

Anybody intelligent enough to realize what America is, is not going to sit around and do nothing about it. They're going to be the same way that I am. They're going to be the same way our fans are. They're going to be pissed.

I think people instinctively know that their job is to give service and that they are part of a community. It had a great impact on me when my father walked the picket lines and I walked with him during the civil rights movement.

There's no shortage of great young activists.

My individual power is limited. I want to use my high-profile way to wake people up to take action together to do good things. I can only awake them with my performance art and creativity.

I have an activist's desire to improve people's lives.

Activism could be defined as activities engaged in by individuals to change there of others situation.

You know, there's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.

An activist is someone who makes an effort to see problems that are not being addressed and then makes an effort to make their voice heard. Sometimes there are so many things that it's almost impossible to make your voice heard in every area, but you can sure try.

With the war and everything that's going on, unless you're Susan Sarandon, the best route is to keep your mouth shut. For me it is, anyway!

My duty is to raise the consciousness of the American people.

I do not know of any salvation for society except through eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, people who protest.

Wake up America.

If you see something that you feel is wrong in society, why not help out?

Social change comes not only from the courtroom, but from talking to the media.

I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.

I'm not quite sure precisely when social and political activism became a visible brand of my DNA, but it seems to me that I was born into it. It is hard to be born into the experience in the world of poverty and not develop some instinct for survival and resistance to those things that oppress you.

I think it is important for me to speak out on social issues. Sometimes people will agree with me. Sometimes people will disagree with me. I don't take that personally.