“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States – that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.

My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.

I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.

I’m an athlete and I’m black, and a lot of black athletes go broke. I do not want to become a statistic, so maybe I overcompensate. But I’m paranoid. Oprah told me a long time ago, ‘You sign every check. Never let anyone sign any checks.’

I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.

As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.

I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn’t a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.

The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers – weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.