Ruby Bridges Quotes

I want to inspire kids.

It’s taken me a long time to own the early part of my life.

When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It’s very satisfying.

Wisdom is a gift but has nothing to do with age. That was probably the case with me.

We as African Americans knew that if we wanted to see change, we had to step up to the plate and make that change ourselves. Not everyone comes to that realization in their lives, but thank God Linda Brown’s father felt that way.

I’m not a very public person.

I remember the first time seeing myself on TV, when my family was watching the documentary ‘Eyes on the Prize’ for the first time. There were pictures of people going up the school stairs, and Mom said, ‘Oh, that’s you!’ I said, ‘I can’t believe this. This is important.’

I now know that experience comes to us for a purpose, and if we follow the guidance of the spirit within us, we will probably find that the purpose is a good one.

You cannot look at a person and tell whether they’re good or bad.

Schools should be diverse if we are to get past racial differences.

Somehow, it always worked. Kneeling at the side of my bed and talking to the Lord made everything okay.

I remember what it was like at age 6, not really understanding what was going on around me, but having all these grown-up thoughts running through my head about what I was facing, why this was happening.

My message is really that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of our children.

I would dream that this coffin had wings, and it would fly around my bed at night, and so it was a dream that happened a lot, and that’s what frightened me.

Every day, I would show up, and there were no kids, just me and my teacher in my classroom. Every day, I would be escorted by marshals past a mob of people protesting and boycotting the school. This went on for a whole year.

My mother had taught me that the only thing you could depend on was your faith, and I had that.

We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. I think that is very sad.