60 Howard Thurman Quotes From The Eminent Civil Rights Leader
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Howard Washington Thurman was a civil rights leader, author, and pioneer for the social justice movement.
Thurman was born in Daytona, Florida on 18 November 2021 and died on 10 April 1981. His former years were in an African American Christian household with his grandmother.
Thurman encountered various forms of discrimination for years. His religious experience influenced his approach to life. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. considered him a mentor. If you like the ones below, then do have a look at our W.E.B. Du Bois quotes and civil rights quotes.
Quotes By Howard Thurman
Thurman Howard Washington Thurman was a civil rights leader, author, and pioneer for the social justice movement.
Thurman was born in Daytona, Florida on 18 November 2021 and died on 10 April 1981. His former years were in an African American Christian household with his grandmother.
Thurman encountered various forms of discrimination for years. His religious experience influenced his approach to life. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. considered him a mentor. If you like the ones below, then do have a look at our W.E.B. Du Bois quotes and [civil rights quotes].
was an American author and educator himself and wrote various books. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met when they were at Boston University.
1.“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.…”
-Harold Thurman
2.“Don’t’ ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
-Harold Thurman
3.“There are two questions we have to ask ourselves. The first is 'Where am I going?' And the second 'who will go with me?' If you ever get these questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble.”
-Howard Thurman
4. "...It is true that in the hands of a man like Hitler, power is exploited and turned to ends which make for havoc and misery; but this should not cause us to ignore the basic soundness of the theory upon which he operated."
-Howard Thurman
5. "During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.”
-Howard Thurman
6. "...Always, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of human beings ebbing and flowing like the tides of the sea."
-Howard Thurman
7."There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself..."
-Howard Thurman
8. "Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve."
-Howard Thurman
9.“Twilight- a time of pause when nature changes her guard.”
-Howard Thurman
10. “Follow the grain in your own wood.”
- Howard Thurman
Dr. Howard Thurman Quotes Christmas And Christianity
An author and an educator himself Thurman wrote various books based on Christianity like Jesus and the Disinherited and others. Thurman wrote a poem titled 'The work of Christmas'. He was one of the first to introduce an Inter-racial American church for religious experience. Here are some great Howard Thurman Quotes.
11. “Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind...”
- Howard Thurman
12. “A prayer is a form of communication between God and man and man and God...”
-Howard Thurman
13. "The movement of the spirit of God in the hearts of man often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making."
-Howard Thurman
14. “As a seagull lays in the wind current, so I lay myself into the spirit of God.”
- Howard Thurman
15. " It cannot be denied that too often the weight of the Christian movement has been on the side of the strong and the powerful and against the weak and the oppressed...."
-Howard Thurman
16. “Christmas is a mood, a quality, a symbol. It is never merely a fact.”
-Howard Thurman
17. "I will light candles this Christmas...Candles that will burn all year long."
-Howard Thurman
18. "...Christmas is waiting to be born: In you, In me, in all mankind."
-Howard Thurman
Quotes On Love
Thurman's quotes on love are touching.
19. “Love has no awareness of merit or demerit; it has no scale …Love loves; this is its nature.”
-Howard Thurman
20."To love is to make one's heart a swinging door."
-Howard Thurman
21."Perfect love is long delayed."
-Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman Quotes On Manhood
Howard Thurman author and educator speaks about manhood in these quotes.
22." If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection."
-Howard Thurman
23. “The measure of a man’s estimation of your strength is the kind of weapons he feels that he must use in order to hold you fast in a prescribed place.”
-Howard Thurman
24. "...A Man's horizon may become so completely dominated by the intense character of his hatred, that there remains no creative residue in his mind and to give to great ideas, to great concepts."
-Howard Thurman
25.“Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.”
-Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman Quotes On Peace
The author and educator spoke about the need for peace in our lives.
26. “In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, the courage to fear, hope to despair.”
- Howard Thurman
27."But the need for the heart is a room for peace... peace of spirit that filters through all confusion and robs them of power."
-Howard Thurman
28. "Human life is one, and all men are members or one another."
-Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman Quotes On Being Alive
Thurman's quotes on doing the things that make you come alive.
29."When all hope for a release in this world seems unrealistic and groundless, the heart turns to a way of escape beyond the present order."
-Howard Thurman
30.“There must be remaining in every life, someplace for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful.”
-Howard Thurman
31. “A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.”
-Howard Thurman
32. “At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live."
-Howard Thurman
33.“And this is the strangest of all paradoxes of the human adventure; we live inside all experience, but we are permitted to bear witness only to the outside...”
-Howard Thurman
34. “Anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys of his destiny.”
- Howard Thurman
35. “Fate is the raw materials of experience...destiny is what a man does with these raw materials.”
-Howard Thurman
36. “Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose of the cause... which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.”
- Howard Thurman
37. “Because life is dynamic and we are deeply alive, the end of the year can only mean the end of the year, not the end of life, not the end of us, not even the end of time…”
- Howard Thurman
38. “The hard thing when you get old is to keep your horizons open….”
- Howard Thurman
39. “…The first part of life, everything is in front of you, all your potential and promise... Then the challenge is to keep discovering the green growing edge.”
- Howard Thurman
40. “... To love life truly is to be whole in all one’s parts, and to be whole in all one’s parts is to be free and unafraid.”
-Howard Thurman
41. "Growth always involves the risk of failure."
-Howard Thurman
42. "Life wears down the edges of the mind."
-Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman’s Quotes On Activism
Although Thurman was critiqued for not being involved in activism, he encouraged others to participate.
43. "Fears are of many kinds- fear of objects...then there is fear which has to do with aspects of experience and detailed states of mind."
-Howard Thurman
44. “Do not be silent; there is no limit to the power that may be released through you”
- Howard Thurman
45. “He who fears is delivered to destruction.”
-Howard Thurman
46. "...It is what is feared by the rabbit, that cannot ultimately escape the hounds."
-Howard Thurman
47. "The basis of fear is analyzed, it is clear that it arises from a sense of isolation and helplessness in the face of varied dimensions of violence to which the underprivileged are exposed."
-Howard Thurman
48. “Do what is on fire inside of you. More often than anything else, the world needs persons who are on fire.”
-Howard Thurman
49. “You can't stand in the midst of the world and struggle for fundamental change unless you are standing in your own space and looking for change within.”
-Howard Thurman
51. "There is a courage that comes from an inward spring of confidence in the meaning and significance of life."
-Howard Thurman
52. "A bigot is a person who makes an idol of his commitments"
-Howard Thurman
53. “You must lay your lives on the altar of social change so that wherever you are there the kingdom of God is at hand!”
-Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman Quotes About Being With The Oppressed
Howard believed that the world needs free people because only then would it flourish.
54.“Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one’s own situation so as to be not overcome by them.”
-Howard Thurman
55.“Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one’s own situation so as to not be overcome by them."
-Howard Thurman
56.“There is a certain grandeur and nobility in administering to another’s need out of one’s fullness and plenty.”
-Howard Thurman
57. "...If security or Insecurity is at the mercy of a single individual or group, then control of
behavior becomes routine. All imperialism functions this way."
-Howard Thurman
58. “Wherever has this sense of eternal in his spirit, he hunts for it in his home, in his work, among his friends, in his pleasures and all the levels of function.”
- Howard Thurman
59.“Community cannot long feed on itself, it can only flourish with the coming of others and beyond: their unknown and undiscovered sisters and brothers.”
-Howard Thurman
https://pixabay.com/photos/howard-university-landscape-scenic-1607735/
(Howard University)
60."In whatever sense this year is a new year for you, may the moment find you eager and unafraid, ready to take it by the hand with joy and gratitude."
-Howard Thurman
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotesfor everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Howard Thurman quotesthen why not take a look at Susan Sontag quotes, or protest quotes.
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Masters of English Literature
Merlyn MathewsBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Masters of English Literature
As a multilingual content writer, Merlyn's command over multiple languages and her strong academic background in English enhance her writing capabilities. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English from Christ University and a Master's degree in English from the University of Leeds.Her professional journey includes internships at The Lagoon School and The Guardian Newspaper, both in Nigeria, enriching her experience and lending depth to her understanding of diverse work environments. Additionally, her volunteer work with Oxfam and Handout Foundation reflects her dedication to social causes.
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