I guess one of the great agonies of life is that we are constantly trying to finish that which is unfinishable

It was argued that the Negro was inferior by nature because of Noah's curse upon the children of Ham.... The greatest blasphemy of the whole ugly process was that the white man ended up making God his partner in the exploitation of the Negro.

As a young man with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow. But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Violence is not only impractical but immoral.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence.

We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.