Love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power, in the universe.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter - but beautiful - struggle for a new world.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

We had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.

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.