Rosa Parks Quotes Slideshow

I did not get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.
-Rosa Parks

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground.
-Rosa Parks

I wanted to be free as everybody else. I didn't want to be constantly humiliated for something I had no influence on: the color of my skin.
-Rosa Parks

I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.
-Rosa Parks

Somebody has to say "Stop!" some time, and that seemed to be the right station to stop the constant harassment and find out, which human rights I was entitled to.
-Rosa Parks

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

We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. 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

Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.
-Rosa Parks

I didn't want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They'd probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing there.
-Rosa Parks

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

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

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

My only concern was to get home after a hard day's work.
-Rosa Parks