“By the force of our demands, our determination, and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces and put them together in the image of God and democracy”

To divide people based on race, a color, a religion, a sexual orientation, it’s just wrong.

I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. I met Dr. [Martin Luther] King when I was 18. These two individuals inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble. So I got in good trouble, necessary trouble.

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

When growing up, I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I saw those signs that said white men, colored men. White women, colored women. White waiting. And I didn’t like it.

We are one community, one family. Really, we are the American family.

Freedom is not a state; it is an act.

A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few.

We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against.

Every generation leaves behind a legacy. What that legacy will be is determined by the people of that generation. What legacy do you want to leave behind?

You have to have hope. You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward.

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

We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.

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.

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

I say from time to time that the vote is precious.

Without our faith, we wouldn’t have been able to succeed.

Success demands singleness of purpose.

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.

Don’t demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them do. Accept events as they actually happen. That way, peace is possible.

We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when any one engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal.

I will demand a commitment to excellence and to victory, and that is what life is all about.

Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved.