I had a very depressing response because I realized that these were my own people, these were Negroes throwing eggs at me. I'm concerned about the fact that maybe all of us have contributed to this by not working harder to get rid of the conditions, the poverty, the social isolation, and all of the conditions that cause individuals to respond like this.

Somebody must have sense enough to meet hate with love. Somebody must have sense enough to meet physical force with soul force. If we will but try this way, we will be able to change these conditions and yet at the same time win the hearts and souls of those who have kept these conditions alive a way as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth, as modern as the techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi. There is another way.

Every man [human being] is an heir to a legacy of dignity and worth

We still have a choice today: nonviolence coesistence or violent coannihilation.

A man who has nothing he is willing to die for has nothing worth living for

I am not afraid of the word tension.

Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.