For most of the world, civil and political rights… come as luxuries that are far away in the future.

I had to get a second passport in a hurry.

Walking around in that suit and tie, he was in some danger. He was just another nigger, to put it bluntly, although I don’t think he realized that.

The unsung heroes of the civil rights movement were always the wives and the mothers.

I wasn’t predicted to be anything. I just followed an inner spirit, and it put me in the right place and the right time. I didn’t want to be the mayor of Atlanta. I didn’t...

She was strong if not stronger than he was.

If you’re a preacher, you talk for a living, so even if you don’t make sense, you learn to make nonsense eloquently.

I think we’ve made tremendous progress on racism. We’ve even made progress on war. We’ve made almost no progress on poverty.

There is no safer place to put your money than in the middle of the U.S.

See, for good or bad before when we [the board] met, we just did whatever Coretta wanted us to do.

I’ve always seen the Olympics as a place where you could act out your differences on the athletic field with a sense of sportsmanship and fairness and mutual respect.

I wouldn’t listen to my parents, but I found out that I absorbed. I never heard what they said – told me – but I did what they did.

I understand that she was asleep last night and her daughter went in to wake her up and she was not able to and so she quietly slipped away. Her spirit will remain with us...