You can have no influence over those for whom you have underlying contempt.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation.

Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

I've decided to stick with love.

Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying.