Politics can be the graveyard of the poet. And only poetry can be his resurrection.

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

I'm so tired of waiting, aren't you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind?

The only way to get a thing done is to start to do it, then keep on doing it, and finally you'll finish it.

A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the Earth And every man is free.

When a man starts out to build a world, He starts first with himself

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed - Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.

Negroes - Sweet and docile, Meek, humble, and kind: Beware the day - They change their mind.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? ... Or does it explode?

Stress is a false perception of fear of the unknown.

I have been schooled by my own suffering: I've learned the many ways of being purged.

Grant me the grace to dissolve my negative thoughts about myself today. I breathe the grace of kindness into my heart. And may the grace of healing flow abundantly to every one in need of help.

If I had an extra 20 or 50 years physically, I could have been the dancer of my dreams. But I never became that dancer.

Always keep a window in the attic open; not just cracked: open.

Are decent people in positions of leadership eternally condemned to Calvary?

Why worry about things you can't control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?

I was lost, and that war [in Vietnam] was very alienating - not that I was against it or for it, but I was just lost after that war. As were many Americans.

You're never nice to your friends. You're nice to people you don't like!

He was happily married - but his wife wasn't.