1. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
2. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
3. “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”
4. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
5. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
6. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
7. “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
8. “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
9. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
10. “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
11. “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.” (From the poem “Invictus”)
12. “When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”
13. “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”
14. “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
15. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
16. “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”
17. “There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
18. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
19. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
20. “Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.”