Activist Quotations

I won't use abortion as a litmus test with a pro-choice individual. Someone that is an activist on the abortion issue, I think, goes outside the pale, and I cannot support an activist on the abortion issue.

I love biographies. I read Patti Smith's 'Just Kids.' I'm into that time frame in New York, the '70s and '80s. In art school, I read 'Close to the Knives,' the autobiography of the artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz.

I've been on both sides: the victim and the villain. I was the victimised model, and everything from my weight to my fertility was held up for discussion. And then I was the person that could garner some kind of positive outcome, by taking on the role of vice chairman of the British Fashion Council and becoming an activist of body image.

When they put me in jail, that's when they turned me into an activist. Up until the time I went to jail, I was just a comedian.

Every time a pundit or elected official is on any TV news program, it should be a polite formality to mention that GE has made such and such billions off the war in Iraq by selling arms or that Murdoch is a right-wing activist with a clear stake in who wins and who taxes his profits the least.

I'm always the one with the activist friends. I've been an activist very little.

Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important that the law as written.

Being an activist is about getting things done. It's not about standing around shaking your fist in anger.

I've been involved in social activism my entire life, and I would argue that many people involved in social activist movements have done very little work on themselves.

Writers who are activists are very rarely taken seriously as artists.

I think Mr. Cosby has always been very much an activist and a big proponent of African-American pride. That's how 'The Cosby Show' came about. I think in his older years, he has gotten a lot more direct and vocal about it. But I think he only wants the best for all of us.

It's really important to me to promote worthy causes. But not in a heavy, obligatory, responsibility way. I really admired that as a kid, learning about the 'Elton John AIDS Foundation.' And I was obsessed with The Indigo Girls. And they are the consummate activist group, always reaching out, especially to Native causes and things like that.

People are always wondering if I am an artist or political activist or politician. Maybe I'll just clearly tell you: Whatever I do is not art. Let's say it is just objects or materials, movies or writing, but not art, OK?

I see myself as a climber and an activist.

I've been an activist in the LGBT community for a long time. I think nothing's changed, I'm just a little bit more focused on the 'T' now than I was on the 'L' or the 'G.'

I suppose I am one: an activist - for animals and a vegan lifestyle. I hear that word, however, and look around to see if someone is indeed referring to me.

I've never done anything else in my life other than preach and be an activist. Way before I was known.

My mother was really involved with the Refusenik campaign with Soviet Union Jews. They would come and stay at our house, some of them, after they managed to get out of the Soviet Union at the time. There were things that were Jewish-related happening in my house quite consistently, but it was much more from a kind of activist standpoint.

I was a Republican because I thought that those were the people who best supported markets. I think that is not true anymore. I was a Republican at a time when I felt like there was a problem that the markets were under a lot more strain. It worried me whether or not the government played too activist a role.

I was a Republican, and I saw the activists and what they were doing; it was intolerable to me.

I don't call myself a white supremacist. I'm a civil rights activist concerned about European-American rights.

The real discrimination here is by activist judges who are trying to deny children the advantages of a simple family.

You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers while you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

There was a French activist and writer, Simone de Beauvoir, who said, 'You are not born woman. You become one' ... Words I live by.

So I've been a political activist all my life and I think in a large measure it's because of the internment that we experienced 50 years ago.

She is an unsung hero. She's a community activist and a hard worker in the club.

My intention to vote for Judge Roberts tomorrow should in no way be construed as a weather vane for how I might vote on the next nominee, ... In the past I have not hesitated to vote against several of the president's nominees to the Courts of Appeal when they carried the ideological and activist baggage that I believe would be disruptive to our society.

My early years as a political activist were dominated by the poll tax.

Music is not some stuffy college lecture, ... On a good day, Rage Against the Machine is not able to just rock you like a hurricane, but also to fuel the engine with indignation and the band's activist convictions.

My father was the 87th Latino to be in the major leagues, but he was the first one ... to be able to speak up and become an activist against prejudice, not only in baseball but also in society, and that took a lot to be able to do that.

Naturally, there exist concerns about what activist courts might do to undermine these rights and the Defense of Marriage Act, ... But it is premature to amend the Constitution based upon a hypothetical scenario.

I have great confidence in her integrity and legal skills, but her judicial philosophy is not that well known. I think there will be some nervousness among grass-roots Americans who are unhappy with the activist tendency of the court, ... A lot will depend on how she testifies and how her philosophy of the law is revealed.

From activist stage, I just spoke and said whatever I had to say. When the writing started, I would just read it. Then I had the interest into going into musical aspects. When that happened in '86, I liked the result of work we did in the studio.

He claims it was precedent, but as an experienced judge, he knows better. Clearly, this is a ruling by a judge who is obviously an activist who legislates from the bench to enact his own agenda.

It has been brought on us by activist judges who have chosen to ignore the will of the people and instead redefine marriage for all Americans.

I think the result will be you'll have a shareholder activist with a significant but not controlling interest who will lobby for a restructuring. For the first time, we could have someone who could look out for shareholders.

I think conservatives do not have confidence she has a well-formed judicial philosophy, and they are afraid she might drift and be a part of the activist group like Justice Souter has, ... She will need to articulate a vision of the Constitution and the role of a judge that is sound or she could be in trouble with the Republican senators.

Roger was a Democratic activist who was involved in many campaigns for several years, but if he was going around making promises for job interviews he was just lying.

People may be prepared to buy services from Apple and Amazon if they feel these companies do a good job, but we need to ensure that we can speak up when our content is used by other people for their profit. An activist amateur culture will constantly challenge and say, 'This is mine, you're not doing that with it.'

My mom was an environmental activist in Australia in the late '60s and '70s, and I guess I've inherited that awareness from her.

Judy Jacobs is not to be underestimated. She's a civic activist turned elected official and a seasoned politician. She cannot be taken lightly.

Judicial restraint is a buzzword just like activist judge. Everybody's in favor of judicial restraint, but what does it mean? If it means not acting as a check against majoritarian excesses or upholding constitutional rights against improper government action, then restraint is not something admirable.

We now have the Senate of the largest state in the nation endorsing marriage equality. This undermines President Bush's claim that this effort is being undertaken by a few activist judges.

The artist and the political activist are one. They are both shapers of the future reality. Both understand and manipulate the collective myths of the race. Both are warriors, priests, lovers, and destroyers.

We don't take an activist role, ... If we don't like it, we sell it.

The president has an important challenge and opportunity. He can choose a nominee who will unite the country in support of fundamental American rights and freedoms, or he can choose a judicial activist who can dramatically change the court's direction. I pray for the former but I expect the latter.

Well, judges take offense to that if they're called an activist judge. But the fact of the matter is if the shoe fits, you've got to put it on. There are judges that do that.

UC Berkeley has always held a special attraction for me. It has such a storied history, and I like how the university looks at the world from a humanitarian and activist viewpoint. It also has a good history department.

To me, Bush is saying, 'I agree with the Democrats that the federal government ought to have an activist role.' He's becoming Democrat-light.

'The Red' is the first book in a trilogy that gained a big following as a self-published e-book, and is now out in paper from Saga. It introduces us to reluctant hero Shelley, a former anti-war activist who chooses to join the military rather than serve jail time after being arrested at a protest.

We will not stand activist judges who legislate from the bench, who remake our culture. ... We will not tolerate judges who change the rules of our written Constitution. You, the American people, play a big part on how to deal with these out-of-control judges. ... The answer is in your hands.

Blake was an activist and artist whose lifestyle truly reflected his values. He was the lead singer of Parallax, whose (song) lyrics involve a deep reflection on the alienation produced by our consumerist society. Of all the students I have had over my six years at UVSC, Blake was the most authentic.

Blake was an activist and artist whose lifestyle truly reflected his values, ... He was the lead singer of Parallax, whose (song) lyrics involve a deep reflection on the alienation produced by our consumerist society. Of all the students I have had over my six years at UVSC, Blake was the most authentic.

A state Constitutional Amendment is necessary because, as we have seen elsewhere, activist judges have overturned statutory protections of marriage.

Did Brown simply mean you had to stop segregating children, or did it mean a more activist program was needed?

I spent ridiculous amounts of time as an activist and volunteer and was a teacher for 20 years.

Islamic fundamentalism in its activist manifestation is bad news. Religious fundamentalism in general is bad news. We know about religious fundamentalism in South Africa. Calvinist fundamentalism has been an unmitigated force of benightedness in our history.

I've always said that I was an activist before I became a celebrity.

I've always had an interest in complicating the way that we perceive the black character, whether it's the black academic or scholar or activist or black intellectual.

Thank goodness there is now one less political activist at the FDA who puts radical feminist ideology above women's health.

Thank goodness, there is now one less political activist at the FDA who puts radical feminist ideology above women's health.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the activist group associated directly with the Women's Center.

The one-person, one-vote cases are the example of the judiciary being the most activist ever . . . it led to the redrawing of districts for almost every representative institute in the United States, from the smallest town council to congressional delegations.

Activities like that are really good for the city and the activist community.

Activist judges are trying to institutionalize a lie that marriage is just about big people relationships, but they forget the little people, the whole generation of kids who will struggle with this terrible precedent.

This is an outrageous order from an activist federal judge that offends Missouri values, ... I call on the attorney general to vigorously pursue all available legal options to overturn this offensive federal mandate. It is time for him to aggressively argue that this is an inappropriate use of taxpayer resources and contrary to state law.

This is red meat for Democratic activists. Many Democrats wonder if she can be elected in November 2008, so she has to keep the activist Democrats onboard. They're the ones who vote in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

Amending the state constitution may be the only way to prevent activist judges from destructively reshaping the centuries-old definition of marriage.

Americans United to Protect Social Security - which successfully mobilized to stop Bush's Wall Street Social Security plan - grew directly out of our work to build a nationwide activist coalition to oppose Social Security privatization. This new campaign, organized with a broader issue mandate, will build on and amplify the work of the Campaign for America's Future and many other groups around the issues of cleaning up corruption in government; health care; energy independence and the other 'kitchen table' economic issues Americans care about.

They needed to show their base and activist organizations on the liberal side that they were true-blue, and that explains how they behaved as they did.

They are coming clean on how meaningless his evasive 2003 testimony was. It's now even clearer than before that the far-right activists who've been turning handsprings in celebration of Roberts's nomination are getting exactly what they wanted: a proven activist opponent of personal freedoms like a woman's right to choose.

This is the nomination that changes the balance of the court, moving away from an activist court, and you need someone who's going to be strong in that regard. There's no question there's going to be a battle unless (Bush) turns his back on everything he's said he's going to do and his legacy.

It was astounding. It wasn't the professional activist class; it was grass-roots people who heard about it on TV and radio.

I told my class the other day I have no idea what judicial activism is, ... Maybe the best definition of a judicial activist is a judge you don't like.

It's the loss of a personal friend here locally and the loss to Fresno overall of a physician activist in the community who helped shape policy toward public health and air quality in this community for the last five years,

It's the idea that well, maybe people aren't born a particular biological sex, or they are but that shouldn't determine their gender identity. And that's a very big component of the homosexual activist agenda now.

That sounds to me like an activist judge.

Each of their surprise disclosures has contained additional reasons for concern about whether Roberts would use his lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to be an activist for an ideological agenda or an advocate for Americans' personal freedom.

Everyone's entitled to representation, but not every activist defense attorney is entitled to be governor of Virginia.

It's an activist judge. He's trying to defend his position that's indefensible,

It takes a strong stomach and a thick skin to be a female activist fighting online censorship in Pakistan.

The Tunisian blogger and activist Sami Ben Gharbia has written passionately about how U.S. government involvement in grassroots digital spaces can endanger those who are already vulnerable to accusations by nasty regimes of acting as foreign agents.

They would not be barred, but if we succeed in doing this and we build a very activist campaign, they're going to catch hell wherever they go. We can't legally ban them, but we can make their jobs so difficult that they don't want to go to campus.

This is a very activist union movement, ... Because they can't mobilize people within companies, they often have to go into the streets.

The nation has lost a committed civil and human rights activist whose life and contributions have made a significant difference.

I have personally provided hundreds of various documents to people who have requested them. Having started my political career as a citizen activist and having several times been prohibited from addressing government bodies I am especially sensitive to making sure anyone and everyone who wants to address county government has that opportunity. I wish we had a room full of concerned citizens at every meeting.

I know, personally, how frustrating it can be as an activist with your eyes open, really seeing what?s happening.

I had the blessing or curse to be born into an activist family. My mom and dad were into the protests way before I was born. And once I was born, they raised me in that activist environment.

In terms of China's global impact, it is a significant player. But while we are seeing a far more activist China, in terms of its ability to actually lead, it is severely hampered.

He's truly a renaissance individual for our times, ... I've likened him to a Will Rogers voice in Congress (with) humor (and) common sense. He brought real legislative achievements, working on environmental issues for Southern California ... working on issues for the voters of California by protecting their will against activist judges. He was a well-rounded and dedicated lawmaker.

Astronauts: space activists.

For some conservatives, it was like a cold dish towel across their face, reminding them that, 'wait a second, we thought we were totally supportive of this president, now we know, maybe we have to keep an eye on him.' And, conservative groups have become much more animated and activist and second guessing of the president.

So few people voted in the elections [of 1996] that the ones who did were called activists.

I'm not an activist by nature. I am suspicious of Utopian thinking and equally suspicious of its alternate.

Smile, breathe and go slowly." - Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen monk, author and peace activist.

I've always considered myself a feminist, I always considered myself somebody who is a reproductive rights activist, and I've spent the past 25 years of my life speaking truth to power. And using humor to do that.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can call myself an activist because I don't really do enough of anything.

Families are incubators for citizen activists.

You have to draw lines between being a journalist and an activist.

We can all become activists and raise questions.