I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.

Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

Power is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice is love correcting everything that goes against love.

But while so many white Americans are unaware of conditions inside the ghetto, there are very few ghetto dwellers who are unaware of the life outside. The television sets bombard them day by day with the opulence of the larger society.

You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to go through a process of self-purification.