76 Energetic Colin Kaepernick Quotes to Push Super Hard

Of the many football quarterbacks, Colin Kaepernick is one of our favorites here at Execute Resources. It isn’t for his sheer power but his activist work to bring light to the Black Lives Matter movement.

It’s hard work to get to the level he reached. Very hard. And to be squashed for his political views is astounding given his extraordinary talent on the field. And if you need a dose of Colin Kaepernick before he gets back on the field again, then these quotes will inspire you to question the narrative.

1. I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.

Colin Kaepernick

2. Seeking the truth, finding the truth, telling the truth and living the truth has been and will always be what guides my actions.

Colin Kaepernick

3. You’re going to hurt, yes. You’re going to have tweaks and problems. But you’re a football player; you can play through those.

Colin Kaepernick

4. There are things that have gone on in the USA for years and years and have never been addressed, and they need to be.

Colin Kaepernick

5. “If you work hard and perform well, it doesn’t matter whether you’re 20 or 40. People are going to follow, and you can go in there and run the show.

Colin Kaepernick

6. For me, I don’t really see a lot of the things I do as what I do, I see that as what our team does. It just happens to be that I’m the quarterback in those situations.

Colin Kaepernick

7. I’m still trying to improve. Everything I can do to improve every part of my game – I’m going to do it.

Colin Kaepernick

8. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.

Colin Kaepernick

9. I refuse to take shortcuts.

Colin Kaepernick

10. I have great respect for people’s right to believe what they want to believe. And I don’t think anybody should be prosecuted or judged based on what their beliefs are.

Colin Kaepernick

11. I’m not incapable of going through things.

Colin Kaepernick

12. I don’t want people to think you have to look a certain way or be a certain mold to be able to be a quarterback.

Colin Kaepernick

13. People sometimes forget that love is at the root of our resistance.

Colin Kaepernick

14. I don’t look at film that closely about my mechanics of where’s my elbow at.

Colin Kaepernick

15. There is a lot that needs to change, one specifically is police brutality.

Colin Kaepernick

16. I’ve had times where one of my roommates was moving out of the house in college, and because we were the only black people in that neighborhood, the cops got called, and we had guns drawn on us. Came in the house, without knocking, guns drawn on my teammates and roommates. So I have experienced this.

Colin Kaepernick

17. This is an award that I share with all the countless people throughout the world combating human rights violations of police officers and their uses of oppressive and excessive force.

Colin Kaepernick

18. I’ll always be a fan of coach Harbaugh. Not too sure about Michigan.

Colin Kaepernick

19. I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think, ‘Okay, he’s carrying himself as a black man, and that’s how a black man should carry himself.’

Colin Kaepernick

20. I think people are really talking about it. Having conversations about how to make change.

Colin Kaepernick

21. I’ll never take the easy way out.

Colin Kaepernick

22. For as long us I have a beating heart, I’ll continue to walk on this path on behalf of the people.

Colin Kaepernick

23. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.

Colin Kaepernick

24. I don’t believe in pressure. The pressure is not being prepared for what you want to do.

Colin Kaepernick

25. There are bodies in the street and cops are getting paid leave and getting away with murder… I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. If they take football away, my endorsements from me — I know that I stood up for what is right.

Colin Kaepernick

26. It was just something – I didn’t agree with what the flag was representing at this time, and you know, if you look at the original picture where people addressed it, I was trying to sit behind the coolers and out of the way, ’cause I didn’t want to interrupt anybody else’s right to stand and hold attention to the flag.

Colin Kaepernick

27. It’s the people’s unbroken love for themselves that motivates me even when faced with dehumanizing norms of a system that leads to the loss of life over simply being black.

Colin Kaepernick

28. I accept this award not for myself, but on behalf of the people. Because if it were not for my love of the people, I would not have protested. And if it was not for the support from the people, I would not be on this stage today.

Colin Kaepernick

29. History has proven that there has never been a period in the history of America that anti-blackness has not been an ever-present terror.

Colin Kaepernick

30. I just want to improve game to game and try to get better.

Colin Kaepernick

31. I say this as a person who receives credit for using my platform to protest systemic oppression, racialized injustice and the dire consequences of anti-blackness in America.

Colin Kaepernick

32. I can’t look in the mirror and see other people dying in the street that should have the same opportunities that I’ve had and say I can live with myself because I can’t if I just watch.

Colin Kaepernick

33. There’s police brutality. People of color have been targeted by police. That’s something that this country has to change.

Colin Kaepernick

34. You have to train hard and be strong while staying flexible and limber, so I’m trying to find that balance.

Colin Kaepernick

35. What’s gone on in this country in the past, what’s going on currently, these aren’t new situations. This isn’t new ground. This things that have gone on in this country for years and years and have never been addressed; and they need to.

Colin Kaepernick

36. Nobody cares if you’re black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Jewish, whatever it may be. When you step on that field, you’re a member, in my case, the 49ers. That’s your job, your occupation.

Colin Kaepernick

37. This stand wasn’t because I feel like I’m being put down in any kind of way. This is because I’m seeing things happen to people that don’t have a voice: people that don’t have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and affect change. So I’m in the position where I can do that, and I’m going to do that for people that can’t.

Colin Kaepernick

38. Mental health, for me, is doing everything I can to help this team win. Sitting around not doing anything isn’t something I’ve been too big on since I was young.

Colin Kaepernick

39. How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates freedom and justice for all, that’s so unjust to the people living there.

Colin Kaepernick

40. If you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it to be the best.

Colin Kaepernick

41. I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed.

Colin Kaepernick

42. It’s not really pressure, unless you’re not prepared.

Colin Kaepernick

43. While America bills itself as the land of the free, the receipts show that the U.S. has incarcerated approximately  2.2 million people, the largest prison population in the history of mankind.

Colin Kaepernick

44. Sometimes, when things are going really well, I feel like I’ve already seen things – it’s the flashback feeling in a good way. Like I’m watching a rerun because I’ve studied this defense and know what comes next. Now, that is a good feeling, when your mind is working fast because you’ve studied, and you realize, I’ve seen this before.

Colin Kaepernick

45. People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up as far as, you know, giving freedom and justice and liberty to everybody.

Colin Kaepernick

46. I have to learn more in order to preserve my body.

Colin Kaepernick

47. I realize that men and women of the military go out and sacrifice their lives and put their selves in harm’s way for my freedom of speech and my freedoms in this country, and my freedom to take a seat or take a knee, so I have the utmost respect for them, and I think what I did was taken out of context and spun a different way.

Colin Kaepernick

48. It is funny to me that because I can run, because I’m athletic, people tend to see that as my only asset.

Colin Kaepernick

49. Racialized oppression and dehumanization are evolving into the very fabric of our nation.

Colin Kaepernick

50. For me, off the field, cartoons are something that can ease my mind and get me back into having fun and just relaxing.

Colin Kaepernick

51. There are a lot of people that don’t want to have this conversation. They are scared they might lose their jobs or they might not get endorsements and they might not be treated the same way. Those are things I’m prepared to handle.

Colin Kaepernick

52. You have to take care of the ball to win football games.

Colin Kaepernick

53. I have great respect for men and women who fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone to fight for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone.

Colin Kaepernick

54. At the end of the day if something happens, that’s only proving my point.

Colin Kaepernick

55. Most people don’t want to change. They’re comfortable and set in their ways. But in order to change, you have to be able to agitate people at times. And I think that’s something that’s very necessary for us to improve as a country.

Colin Kaepernick

56. Being an NFL quarterback there’s a lot of advantages that come with it. There are a lot of doors that open when you’re a quarterback but at the same time there’s a lot of scrutiny. There are a lot of things you can’t do as well.

Colin Kaepernick

57. “There’s a social responsibility that we have to be educated on these things, to talk about these things.

Colin Kaepernick

58. My love for my people serves as the fuel that motivates me and fortifies me on my mission.

Colin Kaepernick

59. This isn’t something I’m gonna ask other people to put their necks out for what I’m doing. If they agree with me and feel strongly about it, then, by all means, I hope they stand with me.

Colin Kaepernick

60. We have a lot of people that are oppressed. We have a lot of people that aren’t treated equally, aren’t given equal opportunities. Police brutality is a huge thing that needs to be addressed. There are a lot of issues that need to be talked about, need to be brought to life, and we need to fix those.

Colin Kaepernick

61. People don’t realize what’s really going on in this country. There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust. People aren’t being held accountable for. And that’s something that needs to change. That’s something that this country stands for: freedom, liberty and justice for all.

Colin Kaepernick

62. Every time I step on the field, I step on the field to make plays.

Colin Kaepernick

63. I have seen videos, I’ve seen circumstances where men and women that have been in the military have come back and been treated unjustly by the country they fought for.

Colin Kaepernick

64. It’s a touchy subject, ’cause I never want to take it there, where it seems like it’s all about race. But I feel like that’s something that comes along with the territory of being a black quarterback. When you have success – Oh, you’re a freak athlete. Not, Oh, you’re a good quarterback.

Colin Kaepernick

65. We have a presidential candidate who’s deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn’t make sense to me, because if that was any other person, you’d be in prison. So what is this country really standing for?

Colin Kaepernick

66. As I got older my identity developed and my place in society and my understanding of that developed.

Colin Kaepernick

67. There’s a lot of things that need to change, a lot of different issues that need to be addressed.

Colin Kaepernick

68. This is something that has to be said. It has to be brought to the forefront of everybody’s attention. When that’s done, I think people can realize what the situation is and they’ll really effect change.

Colin Kaepernick

69. I never weighed myself when I was at my lightest because I didn’t want to know.

Colin Kaepernick

70. If we have these real conversations that aren’t comfortable for a lot of people, there’s a better understanding of where both sides are coming from. And if we reach common ground and can understand what everybody is going through, we can really effect change and make sure that everybody is treated equally and has the same freedoms.

Colin Kaepernick

71. People can talk all they want; that doesn’t affect how I go about my business.

Colin Kaepernick

72. I know that I’m doing something right, I know other people see what I’m doing is right. It’s something that we have to come together, we have to unite, we have to unify and make a change.

Colin Kaepernick

73. In the heat of the battle, it’s always different than when you go back and look at it on film.

Colin Kaepernick

74. With or without the NFL’s platform, I will continue to work for the people because my platform is the people.

Colin Kaepernick

75. A lot of them have families to feed, and I think it’s a tragic situation where players aren’t comfortable speaking what’s on their mind or what’s right because they’re afraid of consequences that come along with it. That’s not an ideal environment for anybody.

Colin Kaepernick

76. Something you’re aware of being a quarterback coming here-you have expectations, and you want to live up to those.

Colin Kaepernick