“To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.”

A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.

A man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.

It is a historic step toward eliminating the shameful practice of racial discrimination in the selection of juries.

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.

None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.

The ban directly hampers the partys ability to spread its message and hamstrings voters seeking to inform themselves about the candidates and issues.

Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.

I’m the world’s original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.

The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit – a spirit that demands self-expression .

The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.

Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.

The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society.

Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely.

Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.

The Constitution was a product of its times.

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

You show me a capitalist, and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.

Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to an untiring effort.

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

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Voting is an integral part of our democracy.