Some members of Congress are among the best actors in the world.

Rhetoric never won a revolution yet.

I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I'm not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I'm equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests... I am the candidate of the people...

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

... all Americans are the prisoners of racial prejudice.

America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity.

The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.