I learned to distinguish between the two kinds of people in the world: those who have known inescapable sorrow and those who have not.

when the people of any country choose peace at all costs, not even generals can make war.

though some men did not make war as others did, if they sold their goods for profit to the war-makers, did it make them better because the weapon was not in their own hands, if they had made the weapon and sold it and so put it into the hands of those used it upon the innocent?

Our children ... are not treated with sufficient respect as human beings, and yet from the moment they are born they have this right to respect. We keep them children for too long, their world separate from the real world of life.

Life is the wonder with which we are all infused.

It is not healthy when a nation lives within a nation, as colored Americans are living inside America. A nation cannot live confident of its tomorrow if its refugees are among its own citizens.

Anger can give energy to the mind but only if it is harnessed and held in control.