I don't have any extraordinary gifts. I'm just an average Joe who grew up very poor in rural Alabama.

If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.

You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage.

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come walk in my shoes and I will show you change.

If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take that long hard look and just believe that if your consistent, you will succeed

I say from time to time that the vote is precious. It's almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument that we have in a democratic society. And we must use it.

Don't give up! Don't give in! Keep the faith! And keep your eyes on the prize!

You cannot give up - you have to be persistent and keep pushing, and press on.

I truly believe that one day we will get there, we will arrive. And if we do it right in America, maybe, just maybe, we can serve as a model for the rest of the world.

You have to have the capacity and the ability to take what people did, and how they did it, and forgive them and move on.

There is a light within our soul that burns brighter than the sun. And we ignore it.

Hope – that silly, stupid creature that lived within me, no matter how often I tried to beat it to death – lifted its nose and sniffed at the air.

Don't you see? I'm not the spirit of any age. I'm at odds with everything and always have been! I have never belonged anywhere with anyone at any time!

Understanding isn't learned from punishment and anger. An iron has no gentle touch, and love ain't learned from hate.

Not to have been born is undoubtedly best, but sound sleep is second best.

Spend and be free, but make no waste.

The media, is media. You always have to take the media with a grain of salt. You can't believe everything you read.

My work from the last 25 years has been asking people to see differently.

Mozart is the musical Christ.

The airy sky has taken its place leaning against the wall. It is like a prayer to what is empty And what is empty turns its face to us and whispers: 'I am not empty, I am open'.