What the champions of suffrage understood was that the vote is not just a symbol of our equality, but that it can be, if used, a guarantee of results.

Of Equality--as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself--as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same.

I think of compassion as the fundamental religious experience and, unless that is there, you have nothing.

We must move forward in the days ahead with audacious faith. The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.

Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man.

The Negro "revolution" is controlled by these foxy white liberals, by the government itself. But the Black revolution is controlled only by God.

The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God.

You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

I believe that there will be ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think it will be based on the color of the skin...

Those who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness.

As if pity is, as he has been taught, not a helpless outcry but a powerful tide that could redeem the world...

As a leader you must be sincerely committed to what's right rather than who's right.