Quotes from Jesse Jackson

There is no power in cynicism. There is no forward thrust in cynicism.

I cast my bread on the waters long ago. Now it's time for you to send it back to me - toasted and buttered on both sides.

I'm not wasting my time with any more non-straight-talking candidates.

There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps... then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.

So many bright stars, bright in life, burn out quickly.

I had gained a greater appreciation of hearing the concerns of woman, doctors, and so many others.

I came to the conclusion that in order to end racial barriers, I needed to run for the office of the president and put forth an agenda of social justice and world peace. In addition, I concluded that someone needed to run and challenge the liberal orthodoxy.

I had to steal to survive.

I have worked hard to build relationships between Jewish people and black people.

If a black doctor discovers a cure for cancer, ain't no hospital going to lock him out.

I think reconciliation is Obama's goal - but the fight with the Republicans is like a fight with pit bulls, they never let go. Even worse, now the Republicans feel they can keep pushing and he will keep giving. They have not seen a stiff resistance on his part.

If you don't know what tomorrow holds, you need to know who holds tomorrow!

Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. And in the end, faith will not disappoint. Faith, hope, and dreams will prevail... Our time has come. Our time has come. Our time has come.

Each time a barrier falls for one person, the doors of opportunity open wider for every other American.

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.

America is not like a blanket- one piece of unbroken cloth. America is more like a quilt- many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven together by a common thread.

It's not enough to be quiet. Quietness is the absence of noise. We need peace, the presence of justice and to be - and so people here can coexist and live together.

Republicans are the party of 'no,' and Democrats are the party of 'don't know' because it hasn't fought for bold ideas, policies, or plans to turn us in a new direction.

America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth.

From seeds of his body blossomed the flower that liberated a people and touched the soul of a nation.

Those powers that control the tent are not threatened at all by any activity that you engage in, in the shadows, that's not moving toward the tent. And I am rather convinced that we have a generation that is so preoccupied with life in the shadows, they never even focus on getting to the sunlight where you open up the big tent.

At the end of the day, we're defined by our predicament, not by the sides of town.

To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. Your children need your presence more than your presents.

Surrender had played out for good with me.