Coretta Scott King

Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.

There comes a time when time itself is ready for a change.

There is a spirit and a need and a man at the beginning of every great human advance. Every one of these must be right for that particular moment in history or nothing happens.

Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.

Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.

Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union.

If you use weapons of war to bring about peace, you're going to have more war and destruction.

The woman power of this nation can be the power which makes us whole and heals the rotten community, now so shattered by war and poverty and racism. I have great faith in the power of women who will dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to the task of remaking our society.

On Thanksgiving Night, 1942, when I was fifteen years old, white racists burned our house to the ground.

My story is a freedom song of struggle. It is about finding one's purpose, how to overcome fear and to stand up for causes bigger than one's self.

Revenge and retaliation always perpetuate the cycle of anger, fear and violence.

If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.

Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.

When fear rushed in, I learned how to hear my heart racing but refused to allow my feelings to sway me. That resilience came from my family. It flowed through our bloodline.

As one whose husband and mother-in-law have died the victims of murder and assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses... An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation.

Before I was married to Martin and became a King, I was a proud Scott, shaped by my mother's discernment and my father's strength.

Something is wrong that we have to feed so many. Why should there be poverty with all of our science and technology? There is no deficit in human resources - it is a deficit in human will.

Mama and Daddy King represent the best in manhood and womanhood, the best in a marriage, the kind of people we are trying to become.