Inspiring bookish quotes perfect for a protest banner

Literature has long galvanised those who read it to make a change. Here, we’ve gathered thoughts, words and ideas from writers and books that would be perfect for a protest banner.

‘Our masters have not heard the people’s voice for generations, and it is much, much louder than they care to remember’

Taken from this longer quote, below, from V for Vendetta by Alan Moore:

“It does not do to rely too much on silent majorities, Evey, for silence is a fragile thing, one loud noise, and its gone. But the people are so cowed and disorganised. A few might take the opportunity to protest, but it’ll just be a voice crying in the wilderness. Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our masters have not heard the people’s voice for generations, Evey and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.”

‘Never be afraid to raise your voice for compassion’

Read the full quote below, by William Faulkner:

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world... would do this, it would change the earth.”

‘If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude'

By Maya Angelou

‘Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty’

By Henry Thoreau

‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor’

By Desmond Tutu

‘You are never too small to make a difference'

By Greta Thunberg

‘Resist much, obey little’

By Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass

‘Remember you are half water’

Taken from the longer quote below, from The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood:

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”

‘Nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world'

By Anne Frank, from Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex

‘We can all get more together than we can apart’

Taken from a longer quote in Martn Luther King Jr’s The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, below:

“And this is the way we gain power. Power is the ability to achieve purpose, power is the ability to effect change, and we need power.”

‘Culture does not make people. People make culture’

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in We Should All Be Feminists, from a longer quote below: 

“If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”

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