This post is a tribute to the courageous and determined woman whose name is forever remembered in history – Rosa Parks. We have compiled an extensive list of quotes from Mrs. Parks that exemplify her remarkable strength and perseverance as she fought for civil rights in America.

From her groundbreaking refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus, to her inspiring words about equality and justice, these quotes will serve as reminders of the power that one person can have to make a change in the world.

We hope you find inspiration here among Rosa Parks’ many profound statements. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of her most memorable quotes. Enjoy!

  1. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” — Rosa Parks
  2. “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” — Rosa Parks
  3. “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.” — Rosa Parks
  4. “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” — Rosa Parks
  5. “Time begins the healing process of wounds cut deeply by oppression. We soothe ourselves with the salve of attempted indifference, accepting the false pattern set up by the horrible restriction of Jim Crow laws.” — Rosa Parks
  6. “As a child I learned from the Bible to trust in God and not be afraid. And I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. God did away with all my fear.” — Rosa Parks
  7. “I believe there is only one race – the human race.” — Rosa Parks
  8. “One person can change the world.” — Rosa Parks
  9. “I’m tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.” — Rosa Parks
  10. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. — Rosa Parks
  11. “I learned to put my trust in God and to see Him as my strength. Long ago I set my mind to be a free person and not to give in to fear. I always felt that it was my right to defend myself if I could. I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” — Rosa Parks
  12. “Without vision, people perish, and without courage and inspiration dreams die.” — Rosa Parks
  13. “I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.” — Rosa Parks
  14. “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” — Rosa Parks
  15. “Differences of race, nationality or religion should not be used to deny any human being citizenship rights or privileges. Life is to be lived to its fullest so that death is just another chapter. Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.” — Rosa Parks
  16. “I had decided that I would not go anywhere with a piece of paper in my hand asking white folks for any favors. I had made that decision myself, as an individual.” — Rosa Parks
  17. “I don’t think well of people who are prejudiced against people because of race. The only way for prejudiced people to change is for them to decide for themselves that all human beings should be treated fairly. We can’t force them to think that way.” — Rosa Parks
  18. “The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.” — Rosa Parks
  19. “As far back as I can remember, I knew there was something wrong with our way of life when people could be mistreated because of the color of their skin.” — Rosa Parks
  20. “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” — Rosa Parks
  21. “I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.” — Rosa Parks
  22. “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” — Rosa Parks
  23. “We didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next.” — Rosa Parks
  24. “I did not get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.” — Rosa Parks
  25. “Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.” — Rosa Parks
  26. “I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen, even in Montgomery, Alabama.” — Rosa Parks
  27. “Since I have always been a strong believer in God, I knew that He was with me, and only He could get me through that next step.” — Rosa Parks
  28. “God has always given me the strength to say what is right … I had the strength of God and my ancestors with me.” — Rosa Parks
  29. “We are not in a struggle of black against white, but wrong and right, right against wrong.” — Rosa Parks
  30. “The only thing that bothered me was that we waited so long to make this protest and to let it be known, wherever we go, that all of us should be free and equal.” — Rosa Parks
  31. “I think as soon as we could get rid of the slave mentality we were on our way to trying to struggle for freedom.” — Rosa Parks
  32. “I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.” — Rosa Parks
  33. “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.” — Rosa Parks
  34. “We still, today, have a long way to go and we have to continue our work.” — Rosa Parks
  35. “Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.” — Rosa Parks
  36. “To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.” — Rosa Parks
  37. “Even when there was segregation there was plenty of integration in the South, but it was for the benefit and convenience of the white person, not us.” — Rosa Parks
  38. “We had a saying that we worked “from can to can’t,” which means working from when you can see (sunup) to when you can’t (sundown).” — Rosa Parks
  39. “There is no future without education.” — Rosa Parks
  40. “It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made a demand and I just didn’t feel like obeying his demand. I was quite tired after spending a full day working.” — Rosa Parks
  41. “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” — Rosa Parks
  42. “I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be. ” — Rosa Parks
  43. “One of my greatest pleasures there was enjoying the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing and knowing that white folks were doing the preparing instead of me. I was 42 years old, and it was one of the few times in my life up to that point when I did not feel any hostility from white people.” — Rosa Parks
  44. “That was a difference between black slaves and white indentured servants. Black slaves were usually not allowed to keep their names, but were given new names by their owners.” — Rosa Parks
  45. “At the time, i didn’t realize why there was so much Klan activity, but later I learned that it was because African-American soldiers were returning from World War Iasn acting as if they deserved equal rights because they had served their country.” — Rosa Parks
  46. “The overseer beat him, tried to starve him, wouldn’t let him have any shoes, treated him so badly that he had a very intense, passionate hatred for white people. My grandfather was the one who instilled in my mother and her sisters, and in their children, that you don’t put up with bad treatment from anybody. It was passed down almost in our genes.” — Rosa Parks
  47. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, […] the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” — Rosa Parks
  48. “It was just a matter of survivalーlike getting off the roadーso we could exist from day to day.” — Rosa Parks
  49. “What really matters is not whether we have problems, but whether we go through them. We must keep going on to make it through whatever we are facing.” — Rosa Parks
  50. “Our freedom is threatened every time one of our young people is killed by another child… every time a person gets stopped and beaten by the police because of the color of their skin.” — Rosa Parks
  51. “People need to free their minds of all racial prejudice.” — Rosa Parks
  52. “I see the energy of young people as a real force for positive change.” — Rosa Parks
  53. “I have been refused entrance on the buses because I would not pay my fare at the front and go around to the rear door to enter. That was the custom if the bus was crowded up to the point where the white passengers would start occupying.” — Rosa Parks
  54. “I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don’t think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you’re happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven’t reached that stage yet.” — Rosa Parks
  55. “At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.” — Rosa Parkss
  56. “You spend your whole lifetime in your occupation, actually making life clever, easy and convenient for white people. But when you have to get transportation home, you are denied an equal accommodation. Our existence was for the white man’s comfort and well-being; we had to accept being deprived of just being human.” — Rosa Parks
  57. “There is just so much hurt, disappointment and oppression one can take. The bubble of life grows larger. The line between reason and madness grows thinner.”— Rosa Parks
  58. “Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.”— Rosa Parks
  59. “Let us look at Jim Crow for the criminal he is and what he has done to one life multiplied millions of times over these United States and the world. He walks us on a tightrope from birth.”— Rosa Parks
  60. “My only concern was to get home after a hard day’s work.”— Rosa Parks
  61. “There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart or to go in the opposite direction, but somehow I felt that if I took one more step, someone would come along to join me.” — Rosa Parks
  62. “Differences of race, nationality or religion should not be used to deny any human being citizenship rights or privileges. Life is to be lived to its fullest so that death is just another chapter. Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.” — Rosa Parks
  63. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” — Rosa Parks
  64. “I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don’t think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you’re happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven’t reached that stage yet.” — Rosa Parks
  65. “In it not easy to remain rational and normal mentally in such a setting where, even in our airport in Montgomery, there is a white waiting room… There are restroom facilities for white ladies and colored women, white men and colored men. We stand outside after being served at the same ticket counter instead of sitting on the inside.” — Rosa Parks
  66. “You spend your whole lifetime in your occupation, actually making life clever, easy and convenient for white people. But when you have to get transportation home, you are denied an equal accommodation. Our existence was for the white man’s comfort and well-being; we had to accept being deprived of just being human.” — Rosa Parks
  67. “The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute accepts people of any race. We don’t discriminate against anyone. We teach people to reach their highest potential. I set examples by the way I lead my life.” — Rosa Parks

Thousands More Quotes For Any Occasion

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