Political Quotes

“It is my preeminent privilege to rise today to pay tribute to a great and noble American, a dear friend, a Member of this House until his transition. Mr. Speaker, of course I speak of none other than the Honorable John Lewis. I want to recognize and say words about him today, because he took to heart the words of Gandhi that we should be the change that we seek. He was the sermon that he preached. He did what he said he would do and inspired others to do likewise. It is said that a great person will always rise to the occasion, but it is also said that the greater person makes the occasion. Well, when it came to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, not only did he rise to the occasion by marching across that bridge, he made the occasion by helping to organize the march that left Brown Chapel and went to that bridge. Knowing that they were facing the constabulary with clubs, they marched on. Knowing that they were marching into brutality, they marched on. He was a person who understood that the cause of justice will sometimes require some harm to be suffered, yet he marched on. And for this reason, the world had an opportunity to see the horrors of invidious discrimination, and in so seeing, a President, Lyndon Johnson, was put in a position such that he could pass the Voting Rights Act. And after the passage of that act, many of us who are in Congress today are here because he marched across that bridge. So I would say to you, Mr.…”