We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater.

Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power, religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts, religion deals with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

For years, I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions in the South, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of the entire system, a revolution of values.