True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.

Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.

People are often led to causes and often become committed to great ideas through persons who personify those ideas. They have to find the embodiment of the idea in flesh and blood in order to commit themselves to it.

The softminded person always wants to freeze the moment and hold life in the gripping yoke of sameness.

I think the inconveniences of a segregated education are much greater than the inconveniences of busing students so that they can get an integrated quality education.