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

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.

We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

Darkness cannot be overcome with more darkness, only with light. Violence cannot be overcome with more violence, only with peace.

I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will.

Only in the darkness can you see the stars.

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

It’s not burn baby burn, but learn, baby, learn, so that you can earn, baby, earn.

Our children need our presence, not our presents.

Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.

May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership… Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.

Freedom has always been an expensive thing. History is fit testimony to the fact that freedom is rarely gained without sacrifice and self-denial.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live.