Skip to content
quotesby

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Robert F. Kennedy#45

ChangeCourageHopeResilienceInspiration

About this quote

What does it mean?
Individual acts of courage build a collective force capable of overcoming great obstacles.
In plain terms
Small brave acts by many people build a wave of hope that can break hard barriers.
What can you take from it?
Personal courage creates collective power.

Where it applies

  • activism
  • leadership
  • personal motivation

Putting it to work

  • Encourage small acts of bravery
  • Mobilize community action
  • Document stories of hope

Questions to consider

  • How do small actions add up?
  • What builds hope?

Another view

Individual acts may not change structural barriers without coordination.

More from Robert F. Kennedy

  1. In this entire century the Democratic Party has never been invested with power on the basis of a program which promised to keep things as they were. We have wo…

    Permalink to quote #44
  2. It is more important to be of service than successful.

    Permalink to quote #46
  3. 'If men do not build,' asks the poet, 'how shall they live?' (12-10-1966)

    Permalink to quote #43

Related quotes

  1. Nada esta perdido si se tiene el valor de proclamar que todo esta perdido y hay que empezar de nuevo.

    Julio CortazarJulio Cortazar quote #2
  2. Life cannot be destroyed for good, neither ... can history be brought entirely to a halt. A secret streamlet trickles on beneath the heavy lid of inertia and p…

    Vaclav HavelVaclav Havel quote #2
  3. 'I have accepted fear as part of life - specifically the fear of change ... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says turn back.'

    Erica JongErica Jong quote #4