“If you’re not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take that long hard look and just believe that if your consistent, you will succeed.”

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.

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.

You will never reach a goal if you believe every path you take is going to be easy.

If you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.

He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.

In the end, it is impossible not to become what others believe you are.

I don’t believe in praying to win.

Mistakes were made. Mine was, believing that you loved me & yours, well you know what you did.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.

One can only dream and hope things will work out with time.