Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free... Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Freedom and equality are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other.
This quote emphasizes the fundamental relationship between freedom and equality, suggesting that true liberation cannot be achieved without achieving equal rights and conditions. A. Philip Randolph argues that the struggle for civil rights is a dual fight; until individuals attain equal status in society, their freedom remains incomplete.
Themes
FreedomEqualityCivil RightsStruggleLiberation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a speech advocating for social justice.
More from A. Philip Randolph
All quotes →We must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Negroes are in no mood to shoulder guns for democracy abroad while they are denied democracy here at home.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Justice is never given; it is exacted.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Since almost all Negroes are workers, live on wages, and suffer from the high cost of food, clothing and shelter, it is obvious that the Republican and Democratic Parties are opposed to their interests.
A. Philip RandolphRead
If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Similar quotes
If it is nothingness that awaits us, let us make an injustice of it, let us fight against destiny, even without hope of victory.
Miguel De UnamunoRead
I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.
Benigno Aquino, Jr.Read
I believe that one day the world will judge the witch hunt against homosexuals just as harshly as it judges the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust.
Mae WestRead
World, they have taken the small children like butterflies and thrown them, beating their wings, into the fire--
Nelly SachsRead
Sir, I am not a brave man...The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.
George S. PattonRead
Early on in my life, I had a broken soul. I was abused by my father, abandoned by my mother and ended up in a destructive first marriage. By the time I was 23, I was broken in my soul. I didn't know how to think right. I felt wrong about everything. But God stepped into my life, and I came out on the other side and didn't even smell like smoke.
Joyce MeyerRead