Nothing is so much needed as a secure family life for a people seeking to rise out of poverty and backwardness.
I decide on the basis of conscience. A genuine leader doesn’t reflect consensus, he molds consensus.
Money, like any other force such as electricity, is amoral and can be used for either good or evil.
The idea of a superior or inferior race is a myth that has been completely refuted by anthropological evidence.
There is nothing more tragic in all the world than to know right and not to do it.
Whatever your life’s work is, do it well.
The more there are riots, the more repressive actin will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.
I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy five and yet not ever truly to have lived.
Even though I have never had an abrupt conversion experience, religion has been real to me and closely knitted to life. In fact the two cannot be separated; religion for me is life.
One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
My parents would always tell me that I should not hate the white man, but that it was my duty as a Christian to love him.
It is quite easy for me to think of a God of love mainly because I grew up in a family where love was central and where lovely relationships were ever present.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
If I sought to answer all of the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work.
I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown.
Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.
As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.
We had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.