Coretta Scott King Quotes

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.

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

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.

Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.

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

Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.

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.

When the heart is right, the mind and the body will follow.

When you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will never be alone.

We must eliminate the gulf of mistrust and ignorance that keeps us from learning from each other.

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

Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.

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

Justice is never advanced in the taking of human life.

Women, in general, are not part of the corruption of the past, so they can give a new kind of leadership, a new image for mankind.

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.

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

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.

People need role models. They need to see examples of people in peoples' lives.

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

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.

If a man had nothing that was worth dying for, then he was not fit to live.

People have to allow themselves to be used by God and Martin [Luther King, Jr.] committed himself totally to God's will and purpose and God is always waiting for someone who is willing to do that.

Isn't it strange how the leaders of nations can talk so eloquently about peace while they prepare for war? ... There is no way to make peace while preparing for war.

If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.

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.

Mama and Daddy King represent the best in manhood and womanhood, the best in a marriage, the kind of people we are trying to become.

I'm more determined than ever that my husband's dream will become a reality.

When aroused the American conscience is a powerful force for reform.

Without Coretta Scott King, there would not have been a Martin Luther King, Jr. in the way that we know him.

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

Violence diminishes our humanity.

This was really what I was supposed to be doing, and it was a great blessing to have discovered this, and to be doing what was God's will for your life.

It's going to take an act of Congress to deal with poverty and hunger, not only in this country, but throughout the world. We have the resources but we don't have the will.

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.

The greatest violence is seeing a child go to bed hungry.

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.

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

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

Money is necessary -- both to support a family and to advance causes one believes in.

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

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

nonviolence first changes the individual.

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

The more visible signs of protest are gone, but I think there is a realization that the tactics of the late sixties are not sufficient to meet the challenges of the seventies.

If you use weapons of war to bring about peace, you're going to have more war and destruction.

On Thanksgiving Night, 1942, when I was fifteen years old, white racists burned our house to the ground.

My story is a freedom song of struggle. It is about finding one's purpose, how to overcome fear and to stand up for causes bigger than one's self.

Revenge and retaliation always perpetuate the cycle of anger, fear and violence.

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.