The Mississippi is not the only river. There's the Tallahatchie and the Big Black. People have been put in the river year after year, these things been happening.

You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.

Sometimes it seem like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I'm not backing off.

When I liberate myself, I liberate others. If you don't speak out ain't nobody going to speak out for you.

Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.

Nobody's free until everybody's free.

Black people know what white people mean when they say “law and order”.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I feel sorry for anybody that could let hate wrap them up. Ain't no such thing as I can hate anybody and hope to see God's face.

With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that's what really happens.

Righteousness exalts a nation. Hate just makes people miserable.

It’s quite certain there are places to which the whole past is as though attached, on which are traced in secret letters for people who are centuries removed from us their thoughts, their will…

Keep reading, Keep learning.

Lying is easy. But it’s lonely.

I think a lot of people do big movies not because they are talented artists but because they can function in the circumstances.

Any area of my life for which I have no hope is under the influence of a lie.

To enjoy yourself is the easy method to give enjoyment to others.

We hope that all coal mines will learn from the bitter lessons these accidents have taught and will strengthen their safety precautions.

Most people spend more time planning a one-week vacation than they spend planning their life.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years - or longer.

It is a very nice world-that is, if you remember that while morals are all-important between the Lord and His creatures, what counts between one creature and another is good manners.