The quotations of

Jesse Jackson

American Baptist minister, activist, civil rights leader, politician, and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition

1941–2026

14 quotes, most often on America and Politics.

Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer, but imprisonment turns the state into a gay dungeon-master.
- Politics
Keep hope alive!
Address to the Democratic National Convention (July 19, 1988)
- Hope
Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.
- Leadership
A man must be willing to die for justice. Death is an inescapable reality and men die daily, but good deeds live forever.
When we’re unemployed, we’re called lazy; when the whites are unemployed it’s called a depression.
- Race
Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.
- Work
Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow⁠—red, yellow, brown, black and white⁠—and we’re all precious in God’s sight.
- America
America is not like a blanket: one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.
Address to the Democratic National Convention (1984)
- America
Your children need your presence more than your presents.
- Children
Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy.
Biography Civil Rights Activist, Minister, Journalist, Biography.com.
- America
- Democracy
Today’s students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude, but their attitude, that will determine their altitude.
Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.
- Charity
In politics, an organized minority is a political majority.
- Politics
You must not surrender. You may or may not get there, but just know that you’re qualified and hold on and hold out.
Address to the Democratic National Convention (July 19, 1988)
- Motivation & Goals

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