We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

And see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky.

The Negro is the child of two cultures - Africa and America. The problem is that in the search for wholeness all too many Negroes seek to embrace only one side of their natures.

Racial understanding is not something we find, but something that we must create. Through education, we seek to change attitudes.

The SILENCE of the good people is more DANGEROUS than the BRUTALITY of the bad people

On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. "A Time to Break Silence," at Riverside Church

Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change.