Welcome to Suffrage Quotes, a collection of powerful and inspiring words that encapsulate the enduring struggle for equal voting rights. The journey towards suffrage has been marked by courage, resilience, and unwavering determination. From the suffragists who bravely campaigned for women’s right to vote to the advocates who continue to fight for enfranchisement around the globe, these quotes serve as a testament to the importance of civic engagement and the pursuit of equality.
Within these pages, you’ll find a curated selection of quotes from trailblazers, activists, and leaders who have championed the cause of suffrage throughout history. Their words resonate with the spirit of empowerment and the belief that every voice deserves to be heard in the democratic process. Whether reflecting on the past struggles or inspiring future generations, these quotes serve as a reminder of the ongoing quest for justice and representation. Explore the profound insights and stirring rhetoric that have shaped the fight for suffrage, and join us in celebrating the indomitable spirit of those who have worked tirelessly to expand the franchise for all. Now, without further ado, let the quotes speak volumes on this vital topic below.
I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it – but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority: and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting. George Washington
We fully believed, so soon as we saw that woman’s suffrage was right, every one would soon see the same thing, and that in a year or two, at farthest, it would be granted. Antoinette Brown Blackwell
When Britain signed up to the European Convention and its later protocols, the words ‘universal suffrage’ were deleted from the ‘right to vote’ article. Dominic Raab
I firmly believe that the wider community supports achieving the goal of universal suffrage for 2017 according to law. I also believe most political parties do not want to see a failure to attain the goal. Carrie Lam
The Paris Commune was first and foremost a democracy. The government was a body elected by universal suffrage. C. L. R. James
Black women fought for the right to vote during the suffrage movement and fought again during the civil rights movement. The rote narrative in the press of the civil rights movement is truncated with the briefest of histories of men like Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, or John Lewis. Anthea Butler
Xi Jinping is a very strong and ambitious leader who is looking to make a lot of changes in China. He is not looking to follow a Western model based on universal suffrage. That is for sure. Henry Paulson
The women’s suffrage movement was the gateway that led to women having the opportunities to achieve monumental milestones and accomplish significant achievements in both civic and governmental roles. Karen Pence
Implementing universal suffrage for the 2017 election is a big step forward along our road to democracy. This is not only a solemn commitment of the central authorities to Hong Kong but also the aspiration shared by seven million Hong Kong people. Carrie Lam
Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority. Rutherford B. Hayes
A consensus on realising the goal of universal suffrage is not unattainable if we bear the common good in mind, move a step further, and try to resolve the differences or even stop insisting on some of one’s own views. Carrie Lam
Suffrage is a common right of citizenship. Women have the right of suffrage. Logically it cannot be escaped. Victoria Woodhull
I’m optimistic Hong Kong will achieve universal suffrage – no matter the attitude of Beijing. Joshua Wong
Once I should have been, if not satisfied, partially, at least, contented with suffrage for the intelligent and those who have been soldiers; now I am convinced that universal suffrage is demanded by sound policy and impartial justice. Salmon P. Chase
Although universal suffrage may not be a panacea for all social problems, it does have a profound bearing on the democratic development and governance of a place. Carrie Lam
Governance under a chief executive elected by universal suffrage will give fresh impetus to economic and livelihood policies. Carrie Lam
Socialists find me too far left; Trotskyites not far enough; ecologists say I am too happy eating foie gras, defending nuclear energy and GM plants; feminists find I am not enough of a woman; anarchists a petit-bourgeois who has sold out because I believe in universal suffrage. Michel Onfray
When we demand Woman Suffrage, we can only do so on the ground, not that it should be a right attached to the possession of a certain amount of property, but that it should be inherent in the woman herself. Clara Zetkin
Suffrage is not a right afforded to everyone. Rather, voting is a privilege in the United States – and a hard-earned privilege at that. Chelsea Manning
Though many in the media do their best to conceal the achievements of President Trump on behalf of women, we are confident that women nationwide have taken notice and will use the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage to reelect President Trump on November 3, 2020. Kayleigh McEnany
Abolition didn’t just happen – people made it happen. Women’s suffrage didn’t just happen – people made it happen. Civil Rights legislation didn’t just happen – people made it happen. And marriage equality didn’t just happen, either – people made it happen. Marianne Williamson
Carry out the republican principle of universal suffrage, or strike it from your banners and substitute ‘Freedom and Power to one half of society, and Submission and Slavery to the other.’ Ernestine Rose
I was fourteen years old when I went to my first suffrage meeting. Returning from school one day, I met my mother just setting out for the meeting, and I begged her to let me go along. Emmeline Pankhurst
While, legally, universal suffrage has been achieved for all undetained citizens over the age of 18, many people still find it difficult to vote in elections. Dawn Foster
Women waited 144 years before earning suffrage. If a mature, multiparty democracy was so darn easy, everybody would have one. Thomas P.M. Barnett
Father had notions about manhood suffrage, public schools, the education and the elevation of the masses, and the gradual emancipation of the slaves, that did not suit the uncompromising views of people in places like Richmond. John Sergeant Wise
Every argument for Negro suffrage is an argument for women’s suffrage. W. E. B. Du Bois
Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts. Anna Quindlen
If a large city can, after intense intellectual efforts, choose for its mayor a man who merely will not steal from it, we consider it a triumph of the suffrage. Frank Moore Colby
Those who care about constitutional development should look beyond universal suffrage for the chief executive election and turn their sights to universal suffrage for Legco as well. Carrie Lam
I know my father believed and my mother believed in and supported the suffrage movement, and I remember my mother taking me to suffrage meetings held in the home of a Quaker family that lived not far from us. Alice Paul
Why is a woman to be treated differently? Woman suffrage will succeed, despite this miserable guerilla opposition. Victoria Woodhull
Suffrage is the pivotal right. Susan B. Anthony
As Eric Weitz argues, the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) was not responsible for the Reich; it was a democratic, socially aware and progressive government, way ahead of many other European governments in its introduction of workers’ rights, public housing, unemployment benefit and suffrage for women. Justin Cartwright
Some people say that given the government’s firm stance against genuine universal suffrage, our demands are impossible to achieve. But I believe activism is about making the impossible possible. Joshua Wong
With universal suffrage, every chief executive candidate must face the seven million people of Hong Kong, explain his or her political platform and mission, and win over the people by addressing their interests and concerns. Carrie Lam
Woman suffrage is an unjust, unreasonable, unspiritual abnormality. It is a hard, undigested, tasteless, devitalized proposition. It is a half-fledged, unmusical, Promethean abomination. It is a quack bolus to reduce masculinity even by the obliteration of femininity. John Boyle O’Reilly
Hong Kongers deserve universal suffrage. Joshua Wong
Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man’s choice, and is highly prized. Ambrose Bierce
While universal suffrage remains an ideal yet to be attained, if you’re lucky enough to be able to vote, don’t let that privilege go to waste. Chelsea Manning
I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females). Abraham Lincoln
Universal suffrage is sound in principle. The radical element is right. Rutherford B. Hayes
When a battle for suffrage is conducted, it should only be conducted according to socialist principles, and therefore with the demand of universal suffrage for women and men. Clara Zetkin
Among many other reforms, Australians pioneered the secret ballot and universal suffrage. Richard Flanagan
We Chinese are instinctively democratic, and Dr. Sun’s objective of universal suffrage evokes from all Chinese a ready and unhesitating response. Chiang Kai-shek
I have joined the ‘suffragettes’ – the militant party on the woman suffrage question. Alice Paul
Proof that they do not understand the republic is that in their fine promises for universal suffrage, they forgot women. Delphine de Girardin
The first organised opposition by women to women’s suffrage in England dates from 1889, when a number of ladies led by Mrs Ward appealed against the proposed extension of the Parliamentary suffrage to women. Millicent Fawcett
Were there no contrariety of interests, nothing would be more simple and easy than to form and preserve free institutions. The right of suffrage alone would be a sufficient guarantee. It is the conflict of opposing interests which renders it the most difficult work of man. John C. Calhoun
In the suffragist and abolitionist era, there were a lot of white women and some black men and women who argued for the old hierarchy and against universal adult suffrage – often on religious grounds. Gloria Steinem
While women were finally given the right to vote in the United States with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, the Republican Party began to pave the way for women’s suffrage decades earlier. Kayleigh McEnany
These 21st-century ‘teavangelicals,’ who represent a considerable segment of the Republican party, are vastly different from their 19th-century forebears. Nineteenth-century evangelicals were concerned with societal ills such as temperance, slavery, the rise of industrialisation and suffrage. Anthea Butler
The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough. Andrew Jackson
A State which has universal suffrage and a wide extension of the jury franchise, must qualify the people by education to rightly exercise the great powers with which they are invested. Edmund Barton
When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country. Noah Webster
Abraham Lincoln is singular. Abraham Lincoln, before he was killed, stood up and, you know, for the first time from any sitting president, stood for the right for suffrage for African-American men who had served in the Civil War. And that’s a limited suffrage, but it was quite radical at the time. Ta-Nehisi Coates
Protests, such as those in favor of labor rights, women’s suffrage, civil rights and gay rights, helped to make America as great as it is. Max Boot
I hope this view of the question may be a mistaken one, because it does not seem to me very unlikely that the suffrage will be granted to women. John Bright
The abolition and suffrage movements progressed when united and were damaged by division; we should remember that. Gloria Steinem
Everyone says Francois Mitterrand had huge charisma. But before he was president they used to call him badly dressed, old, archaic and say he knew nothing about the economy… until the day he was elected. It’s called universal suffrage. When you’re elected, you become the person that embodies France. Francois Hollande
The success of the suffrage movement would injure women spiritually and intellectually, for they would be assuming a burden though they knew themselves unable to bear it. It is the sediment, not the wave, of a sex. It is the antithesis of that highest and sweetest mystery – conviction by submission, and conquest by sacrifice. John Boyle O’Reilly
The alleged menace of universal suffrage having been avoided by the absolute suppression of the negro vote, the spirit of mob murder should have been satisfied and the butchery of negroes should have ceased. Ida B. Wells
Jim Crow segregation was bipartisan. The refusal of women suffrage was bipartisan. The denial of the basic dignity of members of the LGBTQ community has long been bipartisan. The Three-Fifths Compromise was the creation of a punitive national unity at the expense of black people’s basic humanity. Raphael Warnock