“The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God.”

When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It’s an extremely powerful weapon.

We have looked into the future and the future is ours.

When you have people together who believe in something very strongly – whether it’s religion or politics or unions – things happen.

Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.

Do not romanticize the poor. We are all people, human beings subject to the same temptations and faults as all others. Our poverty damages our dignity.

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves – and be free.

I’m not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it, they’ll ask for it.

Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in our cultures and in the environment.

If you’re not frightened that you might fail, you’ll never do the job. If you’re frightened, you’ll work like crazy.

What is at stake is human dignity. If a man is not accorded respect he cannot respect himself and if he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it.

The only ones who make things change are fanatics. If you’re not a fanatic around here, you can’t cut it.

We are suffering. We have suffered. And we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause.

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.

Dr. King challenged us to work for a greater humanity. I only hope that we are worthy of his challenge.

From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.

When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines the kind of men we are.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

Of course this chattering diary is a facade, the literary equivalent of the everyday smiling face which hides the inward ravages of jealousy, remorse, fear and the consciousness of irretrievable moral failure. Yet such pretenses are not only consolations but may even be productive of a little ersatz courage.

In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.

I found myself highly critical of any leader who failed to lead by example.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Success and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure.

You know, that might be the answer – to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s a trick that never seems to fail.

In the long run, failure was the only thing that worked predictably. All else was accidental.