#civil-rights

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."

"To cheapen the lives of any group of men, cheapens the lives of all men, even our own. This is a law of human psychology, or human nature. And it will not be repealed by our wishes, nor will it be merciful to our blindness."

"Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry..."

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

"The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear"

"If the events of September 11, 2001, have proven anything, it's that the terrorists can attack us, but they can't take away what makes us American -- our freedom, our liberty, our civil rights. No, only Attorney General John Ashcroft can do that."

"I knew that, in a large degree, we were trying an experiment--that of testing whether or not it was possible for Negroes to build up and control the affairs of a large education institution. I knew that if we failed it wold injure the whole race."