Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.

Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation.

A riot is the language of the unheard. On blacks in America; address at Birmingham AL

The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

For you will never be what you ought to be until they [your fellow humans] are what they ought to be.