If the Negro is to achieve the goal of integration, he must organize himself into a militant and nonviolent mass movement.

Even if I were certain that the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree this very day

We can dream of an America, and a world, in which love and not money are civilization's bottom line.

We all can't be famous but we can all be great and we become great when we serve others

Even when the polls are open to all, Negroes have shown themselves too slow to exercise their voting privileges. There must be a concerted effort on the part of Negro leaders to arouse their people from their apathetic indifference.... In the past, apathy was a moral failure. Today, it is a form of moral and political suicide.

I cannot make myself believe that God wanted me to hate. I'm tired of violence, I've seen too much of it. I've seen such hate on the faces of too many sheriffs in the South. And I'm not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use. Our oppressors have used violence. Our oppressors have used hatred. Our oppressors have used rifles and guns. I'm not going to stoop down to their level. I want to rise to a higher level. We have a power that can't be found in Molotov cocktails.

To sway an audience, you must watch them as you speak.