Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men.

The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference between open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.

Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.

My God, what do we want? What does any human being want?

I am and always will be a catalyst for change.

I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.

I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.