I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

We know of no more crucial civil rights issue facing Congress today than the need to increase the federal minimum wage and extend its coverage.

The sooner our society admits that the Negro Revolution is no momentary outburst soon to subside into placid passivity, the easier the future will be for us all.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism.

Be an artist at whatever you do. Even if you are a street sweeper, be the Michelangelo of street sweepers.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'