Quotes to Demonstrate Your Anti-racism Commitment and Support
Want to do more?
Review the Anti-racism guides to get insights and possible actions to take, such as to have conversations, learn more through reading articles/books or watching videos, and more.
Managers: Review the Anti-racism toolkit for insights and actions to take with your teams.
Showing others that you are an ally, that you care about their well-being and are committed to diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism is one way to take action. These quotes were compiled for your use, such as with an email signature, on social media, to create a virtual background for meetings, and more.
Note: The quotes below are in the public domain and were made prior to 1925. To use, you must include the name of the author/speaker. Quotes from living or deceased authors made after 1925 typically need a release to use.
Have quotes to share?
If you have meaningful quotes published prior to 1925 to share with others, please send so we can add to our curated list! Email the quote(s) and be sure to cite author/speaker(s) to: hrcommunications@stanford.edu.
Curated quotes
"Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization." -- Mahatma Ghandi, 1925
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -- Harriet Tubman, died March 10, 1913
"It is never too late to give up your prejudices." -- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or, A Life in the Woods, died May 8, 1862
"To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice." -- Kung Fu-tzu Confucius
"We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness." -- Booker T. Washington, The Story of My Life and Work, died November 14, 1915
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." -- Frederick Douglass, died February 20, 1895
"Prejudice is an opinion without judgment." -- Voltaire, died 1778
"We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."-- William Ellery Channing, died October 2, 1842
"A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority." -- Booker T. Washington
"Justice is truth in action." -- Benjamin Disraeli, died in 1881
"Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak." -- Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, died November 14, 1915
"How curious a land is this, how full of untold story, of tragedy and laughter, and the rich legacy of human life; shadowed with a tragic past, and big with future promise!" -- W.E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 1903
"I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace." -- Thomas Paine, died June 8, 1809
"Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove… and for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom." -- Jeremy Bentham, died June 6, 1832