Septima Poinsette Clark

“The movement is in all of the people.”

“The greatest evil in our country today is not racism, but ignorance.”

“I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.”

“Literacy means liberation.”

“I just tried to create a little chaos. Chaos is a good thing. God created the whole world out of it. Change is what comes of it.”

“I never felt that getting angry would do you any good. Other than hurt your own digestion, keep you from eating, which I liked to do.”

“Knowledge could empower marginalized groups in ways that formal legal equality couldn't.”

“We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.”

“Don't ever think that everything went right. It didn't.”

“That's the work I do: I try to get people to see what they have and use it. It's already there.”