Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having their legs off, and then being condemned for being a cripple.

But we are gravely mistaken to think that Christianity protects us from the pain and agony of mortal existence. Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian, one must take up his cross, with all of its difficulties and agonizing and tragedy-packed content, and carry it until that very cross leaves its marks upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering.

Great people aren't those who are happy at times of convienience and content, but of how they are in times of catastrophy and controversy.

In order to be true to one's conscience and true to God, a righteous man has no alternative but to refuse to cooperate with an evil system.

Your self-sacrificin g devotion to your purpose in life and your unwavering faith will carry you through times of difficulty.

I may be crucified for my beliefs and, if I am, you can say, "He died to make men free.

Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.