Advocacy Quotes

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.”
― William Faulkner

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
― Elie Wiesel

“They want us to be afraid.
They want us to be afraid of leaving our homes.
They want us to barricade our doors
and hide our children.
Their aim is to make us fear life itself!
They want us to hate.
They want us to hate 'the other'.
They want us to practice aggression
and perfect antagonism.
Their aim is to divide us all!
They want us to be inhuman.
They want us to throw out our kindness.
They want us to bury our love
and burn our hope.
Their aim is to take all our light!
They think their bricked walls
will separate us.
They think their damned bombs
will defeat us.
They are so ignorant they don’t understand
that my soul and your soul are old friends.
They are so ignorant they don’t understand
that when they cut you I bleed.
They are so ignorant they don’t understand
that we will never be afraid,
we will never hate
and we will never be silent
for life is ours!”
― Kamand Kojouri

“To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not.”
― Germany Kent

“I know you can't live on hope alone; but without hope, life is not worth living. So you, and you and you: you got to give them hope; you got to give them hope.”
― Harvey Milk

“..things are never as complicated as they seem. It is only our arrogance that prompts us to find unnecessarily complicated answers to simple problems.”
― Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”
― Bill Drayton, Leading Social Entrepreneurs Changing the World

“Poverty is not only a lack of money, it's a lack of sense of meaning.”
― David Bornstein, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas

“I spend half my time comforting the afflicated, and the other half afflicting the comfortable.”
― Wess Stafford

“An idea is like a play. It needs a good producer and a good promoter even if it is a masterpiece. Otherwise the play may never open; or it may open but, for a lack of an audience, close after a week. Similarly, an idea will not move from the fringes to the mainstream simply because it is good; it must be skillfully marketed before it will actually shift people's perceptions and behavior.”
― David Bornstein, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas

“If you believe in a cause, be willing to stand up for that cause with a million people or by yourself.”
― Otis S. Johnson, From "N Word" to Mr. Mayor: Experiencing the American Dream

“It can be difficult to speak truth to power. Circumstances, however, have made doing so increasingly necessary.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Obviously these are some exceptional young people, but what they have in common is that they were ordinary people who cared. They wanted to act, to do something, to make life better for other people—and they have.”
― Morgan Carroll, Take Back your Government: A Citizen's Guide to Grassroots Change

“They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I took mine and fell flat on my face. As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce...

I concluded that if I could only nudge the world a little bit, maybe that would be enough.

But nudging isn't enough.”
― Jacqueline Novogratz, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

“We are destroying all esthetic standards in the name of social justice.”
― Harold Bloom , The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages

“Entrepreneurial quality - is by far the toughest (criterion for a social entrepreneur).. For every one thousand people who are creative and altruistic and energetic, there's probably only one who fits this criterion, or maybe even less than that. By this criterion...we do not mean someone who can get things done. There are millions of people who can get things done. There are very, very few people who will change the pattern in the whole field.”
― Bill Drayton

“The first - the most obvious (test of a true social entrepreneur) - is are they possessed, really possessed by an idea... The idea - making it happen across society - is something they are married to in the full sense of the word. One key test of that is this: Is this an idea that you see growing out of their whole life? I get very, very suspicious when I see someone who had an idea two years ago. It just doesn't ring true. Because with the typical entrepreneur you can see the roots of the interest when they're very young. There's a real coherence to people's lives.”
― Bill Drayton

“Over the past century, researchers have studied business entrepreneurs extensively..

In contrast, social entrepreneurs have received little attention. Historically, they have been cast as humanitarians or saints, and stories of their work have been passed down more in the form of children's tales than case studies. While the stories may inspire, they fail to make social entrepreneurs' methods comprehensible. One can analyze an entrepreneur, but how does one analyze a saint?”
― David Bornstein, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas

“As helpers, we often feel the need to see our impact in tangible, measurable ways. We allow negative language into our head about the “broken system;” we look through a lens of “it doesn’t matter, I can’t make a difference”. These ideas are surely contributing to our burnout.”
― Jenn Bruer, Helping Effortlessly: A Book of Inspiration and Healing

“As a pregnant urologist,… I was often asked by hospital workers and physicians if I was going to circumcise the baby. I always answered a simple “no” immediately, without adding the unnecessary caveat that I already knew I was carrying a girl. Knowing that in some parts of the world circumcising girls (female genital mutilation) is as common a practice as circumcising boys, I wanted to use this to spark rethinking every chance I had. When the questioner would find out I knew I was having a girl and tried to use that to explain my choice to not circumcise, I told them, “I wouldn’t circumcise if the child were a boy, either.”
― Adrienne Carmack, Reclaiming My Birth Rights

“It is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell. Wilbur Storey”
― Harold Holzer, Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

“Though either choice was good, one was truer to myself... Ultimately, I reflected on Geothe's invocation to 'make a commitment and the forces of the universe will conspire to make it happen' and chose the uncharted path.”
― Jacqueline Novogratz, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

“Joyfully we undertake our daily work.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

“You can not protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they MUST protect them.”
― Dr. Wangari Maathai

“I now realize that my work is not necessarily to fight the establishment, but to present concrete examples of unfairness, injustice, and prejudice to bring about extensive and effective change—not just to tyrannical regimes—but also to nations masquerading as democracies secretly hiding autocratic and totalitarian agendas.”
― Expat Scribe, The Invisible Cyber Bully: What it's like to be watched 24/7

“Youth are not just the leaders of tomorrow; they are the catalysts for change today."

"True justice lies in creating spaces where every voice, no matter how quiet, can be heard."

"Inclusive development begins with acknowledging the power of diversity in every corner of society."

"Advocacy is not a profession; it is a responsibility we owe to the generations that come after us."

"Empowering young minds is the key to unlocking a future built on innovation, compassion, and resilience."

"Laws shape society, but it is the values of fairness and equality that breathe life into them."

"A sustainable future is crafted when policy, people, and purpose align."

"Strengthening civic engagement is not just about building informed citizens; it’s about nurturing empowered communities."

"In every challenge lies an opportunity for growth, and in every voice, a spark for change."

"Human rights are not negotiable; they are the foundation upon which we build a just society.”
― Panha Vorng

“A great lawyer listens first, speaks second, and always thinks strategically."

"Effective lawyering is less about winning arguments and more about crafting solutions that stand the test of justice."

"The power of a lawyer lies in their ability to turn complexity into clarity."

"A true lawyer is an advocate for the truth, not just for their client."

"Lawyering is the art of persuasion, guided by reason and grounded in integrity."

"A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows how to apply it wisely and ethically."

"The essence of lawyering is not just in knowing the law, but in understanding people."

"A lawyer's greatest skill is turning conflict into resolution with words that heal, not hurt."

"Lawyering requires the courage to stand firm in principle and the flexibility to adapt in practice."

"To be a lawyer is to be a guardian of justice, ensuring fairness prevails over power.”
― Vorng Panha

“Advocating for 2SLGBTQIA+ folks- for any marginalized group- is about affirming the full dignity and humanity of every person, without requiring us to reshape who we are to fit into the expectations of others. Yet, there’s often a subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure to adjust or tone down parts of our identities so that those in the majority—often cisgender, heterosexual folks—feel more comfortable engaging with our message.

Here's the tension: on the one hand, we want to be effective advocates, building bridges and finding common ground; on the other, the expectation that we should compromise or simplify parts of who we are to be more palatable can erase the very unique humanity we are advocating for. When identity is compromised with conditional acceptance, it reinforces the idea that who we are is something optional or negotiable.
Imagine if you were asked to hide or downplay essential aspects of your own identity just to be heard. It’s not just uncomfortable—it sends a message that your full self is unwelcome.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci

“It's not enough for us to mourn and resist the suffering and oppression of 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. We must also dare to imagine a world in which we are all embraced and celebrated in life-giving mutuality. We must stir our imaginations to conceive of a Church where every member of this vibrant Body is recognized for the divine image we reflect.

And before we nod in easy agreement to this truth, we must also recognize that we have been conditioned into a crisis of imagination. We have lost so much of that creative capacity- and we must rekindle it! And one crucial way to do that is to elevate those lives and voices that demonstrate that imagination, found most often among those very people who live under that suffering and oppression.

As Walter Brueggemann reminds us, "It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing futures alternative to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci

“I want to share the stories of two young men. Their lives were in some ways very similiar, yet in other ways profoundly different. Their journey's explored the nature of justice, courage, and character. And both arrived at moments of devastating tragedy and death.
Both men left the safety of their homes, driven by a deep conviction to protect those they believed were in danger. Each took risks, crossing state lines, prepared to confront what they believed were threats to justice. Their actions would ripple outward, touching the lives of many others in ways that would change them forever.

One young man armed himself to protect businesses he saw threatened by escalating riots in the wake of a protest. That night, he shot three men, wounding one and killing two others. He was later exonerated of all charges. His name is 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse.
The other young man chose a different path. He participated in non-violent activism against systemic racism at the height of the Civil Rights movement. He lived with a Black family as a white man—a courageous act in a time and place where such things were almost unheard of.

Arrested for his work, he endured a week in brutal jail conditions before being released. Abandoned by authorities, he and his fellow activists were left to find their own way home. As they sought to quench their thirst at a store, a man blocked their entrance. He leveled a shotgun at one oft he young Black woman, and fired. In that instant, this young man did not hesitate to push her out of the way, saving her life but losing his own in the process. He was 26 years old. His name was Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian.
Today is the feast day to remember and honour the life and sacrifice of Jonathan Daniels. Take some time to reflect on the choices, the work, and the love it took to bring him to that place- a place where, without only a moments thought- gave his life for another.

There is no greater love than this.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci