Quotes by Coretta Scott King

How many must die before we can really have a free and true and peaceful society?

My professional and personal roots in Alabama are deep and lasting.

Nonviolence first changes the individual.

Scandal sells books; fidelity does not.

All we seek is an America where every person is given the chance to productively contribute to his country and where he can receive a fair and equitable share of the wealth that production creates.

If Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy had been embraced and lived out in Iraq and other places, we wouldn't have bin Ladens.

Because Dr. King was human and not divine -- although we think he was divine, he was just a man, an extraordinary man, but a man -- and he would get depressed from time to time and disappointed about all kinds of things relative to the movement.

As an African American child growing up in the segregated South, I was told, one way or another, almost every day of my life, that I wasn't as good as a white child.

We have to launch a national campaign against homophobia in the black community.

Love is such a powerful force. It's there for everyone to embrace-that kind of unconditional love for all of humankind. That is the kind of love that impels people to go into the community and try to change conditions for others, to take risks for what they believe in.

To really know someone is to have loved and hated him in turn.

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people, and I should stick to the issue of racial justice.

If sexual relations between consenting adults are not part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution, then American democracy is in trouble.

I am convinced that the women of the world, united without any regard for national or racial dimensions, can become a most powerful force for international peace and brotherhood.

The process of nonviolence is one that takes time and those of us who've suffered, who've been persecuted over the years, would like to see things change, you know, overnight.

An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed in retaliation.

Behind every good man, there's a good woman reminding you I knew you when you didn't have nothing.

Something is wrong that we have to feed so many. Why should there be poverty with all of our science and technology? There is no deficit in human resources -- it is a deficit in human will.

Sometimes, I am also identified as a civil rights leader or a human rights activist. I would also like to be thought of as a complex, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human being with a rich storehouse of experiences, much like everyone else, yet unique in my own way, much like everyone else.

Nonviolence is a method that transforms, first of all, the individual once you understand it and embrace it. It begins with you and, if you can, about transforming individuals so that they love unconditionally.

You cannot believe in peace at home and not believe in international peace. A war with Iraq will increase anti-American sentiment, create more terrorists, and drain as much as 200 billion taxpayer dollars, which should be invested in human development here in America.

When fear rushed in, I learned how to hear my heart racing but refused to allow my feelings to sway me. That resilience came from my family. It flowed through our bloodline.

When Good Friday comes, these are the moments in life when we feel there's no hope. But then, Easter comes.

Wherever there was injustice, war, discrimination against women, gays and the disadvantaged, I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion.

I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

We have an historic opportunity for a great global healing and renewal. If we will accept the challenge of nonviolent activism with faith, courage, and determination, we can bring this great vision of a world united in peace and harmony from a distant ideal into glowing reality.

It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem.

What most did not understand then was that I was not only married to the man I loved, but I was also married to the movement that I loved.

During the bus boycott, I was tested by fire, and I came to understand that I was not a breakable crystal figurine.

I can't help but believe that at some time in the not-too-distant future, there is going to be another movement to change these systemic conditions of poverty, injustice, and violence in people's lives. That is where we've got to go, and it is going to be a struggle.

Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life.

Marrying Martin and the movement perfected my journey of discovery, soothed my yearning to pour out the values and vision within my soul.

I suppose I experienced the personal dilemma that baffles every working woman. What happens when you are expected to be Superwoman, to perform a dozen conflicting tasks at the same time?

Like Gandhi, my husband had struggled with the issue of materialism.

We should not forget that in the '60s, George Wallace's motto was 'segregation forever,' and that he did nothing to deter bombings and other acts of violence and, by his actions, condoned them.

I feel George Wallace symbolizes something in the past which America has rejected.

A vote for George Wallace is a vote for the past and oppression.

You have to have people who prick the consciences of the nation.

Nonviolence would work today, it would work 2,000 years from now, it would work 5,000 years from now.

While not a panacea for the nation's illegal immigration problems, employer sanctions are one necessary means of stopping the exploitation of vulnerable workers and the undercutting of American jobs and living standards.

Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union.

In the area of economic justice, we still have a long way to go. We have too many people who are discriminated against just because they happen to be black or they happen to be a woman or some other minority.

I think that... discrimination in the job market is a very important area where work needs to be done.

We can prevent many people from becoming terrorists by truly listening to people who feel they've been treated unjustly and responding to their concerns with a sense of justice and compassion.

Nonviolence is the only credible response to the violence we're seeing around the world.

I always knew that I was called to do something. I didn't know what, but I finally rationalized after I met Martin -- and it took a lot of praying to discover this -- that this was probably what God had called me to do: to marry him.

Thank God we have the example of Martin Luther King, Jr. People need role models. They need to see examples of people in peoples' lives, and that's why it's so important not just to commemorate his life, but to study and try to live by the principles of that life.

I think if people really read Martin Luther King, Jr., then they would begin to understand what he really represented.

It is plain that we don't care about our poor people except to exploit them as cheap labor and victimize them through excessive rents and consumer prices.

The woman power of this nation can be the power which makes us whole and heals the rotten community, now so shattered by war and poverty and racism. I have great faith in the power of women who will dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to the task of remaking our society.

Particularly in the South, efforts continue to be made to deny blacks access to the polls, even where blacks constitute the majority of the voters.

I am scared that if Ronald Reagan gets into office, we are going to see more of the Ku Klux Klan and a resurgence of the Nazi Party.

Non-violence is a permanent attitude we bring to the breakfast table and bring to bed at night.

There is no reason why a nation as rich as ours should be blighted by poverty, disease, and illiteracy.

Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.

There is a spirit and a need and a man at the beginning of every great human advance. Every one of these must be right for that particular moment of history, or nothing happens.

I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.

Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.

I'm fulfilled in what I do. I never thought that a lot of money or fine clothes -- the finer things of life -- would make you happy. My concept of happiness is to be filled in a spiritual sense.

Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.