Quotes from Rosa Parks

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

I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.

Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.

Something of Rosa

It was just a matter of survival?like getting off the road?so we could exist form day to day.

I had decided that I would not go anywhere with a piece of paper in my hand asking white folks for any favors. I had made that decision myself, as an individual.

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.

I am proud to be an American. America is a wonderful country.

Never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear.

Most of the members of the Montgomery NAACP were black. White people had to have a lot of courage to join, because they would be ostracized by the white community. It was still very dangerous for anyone, black or white, to try to help black people. We got more help from northern whites.

As secretary of the NAACP, I recorded and sent membership payments to the national office, answered telephones, wrote letters, and sent out press releases to the newspapers. One of my main duties was to keep a record of cases of discrimination or unfair treatment or acts of violence against black people.

I believe there is only one race - The Human Race.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.

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.

Each person must live their life as a model for others.

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.

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.

I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.

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.

Arrest me for sitting on a bus? You may do that.

I had given up my seat before, but this day, I was especially tired. Tired from my work as a seamstress, and tired from the ache in my heart.

All I was doing was trying to get home from work.