Quote of the Day: Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks on Taking Risks and Effecting Change

One of the most famous people in American history is Rosa Parks. Born on Feb. 4, 1913, Parks became one of the most well-known civil rights activists when she boarded a bus in Montgomery, AL, on Dec. 1, 1955, and sat in the front. As we all probably know, the bus driver tried to have Parks move to the back of the segregated bus once it filled up, because she was in the “white” section. She refused to move and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, “one of the largest social movements in history,” per the National Women’s History Museum. So, as someone who is known for her actions and her resistance, our quote of the day from Parks is all about that and the failure that lies within not even trying.

As the NAACP reported, Rosa Parks was in charge of the youth division at the Montgomery branch of the NAACP at the time. She has said that she was inspired to act because of 14-year-old Emmett Till’s brutal lynching in August 1955. Even though many of us were taught that Parks was immensely tired that day, it was a planned act of resistance, one that others before Parks had already done. As the National Women’s History Museum wrote, Parks has said that she didn’t give up her seat because she was tired, nor was it because she was old (she was only 42). “No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” she said.

Parks and her husband moved to Hampton, VA, and then settled in Detroit, MI, after her arrest. And for the rest of her life, she fought for equal rights and was an active member of the Civil Rights Movement, helping different causes and individuals. She died on Oct. 24, 2005, and her legacy lives on. 

Today’s quote is basically the epitome of Parks’s attitude toward revolutionizing a broken system and transforming things for the better. It also reminds us that not even trying to do any of that is a failure in itself.

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Quote of the Day by Rosa Parks

“To bring about change, one must not be afraid to take the first step, or else it will not be done. I believe that the only failure is failing to try.”

This quote comes from Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today’s Youth, a 1996 book that is a collection of children’s letters to Parks and her responses. The popular version is worded a bit differently—“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try,”—but according to the source material, the above wording is actually what Parks said.

In the last chapter, titled “Making a Difference,” one child wrote to her and shared that they moved from Africa to New York. The child asked what it was like for Parks as a Black woman in the United States, and if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” is outdated. In her response, Parks wrote that she was lucky and thankful to have lived as long as she had. She then writes the quote above.

Parks goes on to say that Dr. King’s dream is “still very much alive in America and in the world,” though it’s not “completed.” She writes that, despite his and other civil rights leaders and activists’ efforts, discrimination and inequality are still issues in the country. But despite that, she’s not discouraged from fighting and “pushing ahead.”

“We need to continue to struggle to realize our goal of equality,” she wrote.

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Deeper Meaning of Rosa Parks’s Quote—Taking the First Step and Not Being Afraid To Try

This quote really explains her philosophy, at least when it came to her resistance on the bus in Montgomery, AL, and in her fight for equal rights. If you want the status quo to change, you need to do so yourself. You can’t count on others to do something about it, and you need to fight for what you believe in. And once you decline to try, you’ve truly failed. 

A lot of us are scared of missing the mark or failing before we even try, which is understandable. But Rosa Parks’s words ring true here; if you never try, you, of course, won’t be unsuccessful, per se, but you’re failing anyway by not making any progress. 

And this quote can even hit at less serious things than making positive changes in society. You can use this in your own life with personal relationships or your goals. In order to move forward in your life and with your ambitions, you have to just do it. If you don’t, you will have nothing to fail at but you also won’t gain anything, either.

Related: Quote of the Day: Psychologist B.F. Skinner on Perseverance, Reframing and Never Giving Up

More Quotes from Rosa Parks

• “What really matters is not whether we have problems, but how we go through them. We must keep going on to make it through whatever we are facing.”
• “As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done.”
• “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
• “I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”
• “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.”
• “It is better to teach or live equality and love … than to have hatred and prejudice.”

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