The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the existence of justice for all people.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

I was not afraid of the words of the violent, but of the silence of the honest.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.

Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.

War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.

Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice.