Mwrogers’s Reviews > I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World > Status Update

“There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. I would rather be a free pauper than a rich slave. I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self-respect.”

“…there is a dire need for leaders who are calm and yet positive…leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity; leaders who can subject their egos to the greatness of the cause.”

“Segregation is a glaring evil….(and) is a blatant denial of the unity which we all have in Christ Jesus.”

“God is on the side of truth and justice comes down to us…from our Christian faith. (our faith) reminds us that Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter.”

“Here we rise to the position of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does.”

“…if we retaliate with hate and bitterness, the new age will be nothing but a duplication of the old age….(and) unborn generations will be the recipients of ….bitterness, and our chief legacy…will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.”

“Whatever your life’s work, do it well…..If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.’”

“In the new age we will be forced to compete with people of all races and nationalities. Therefore, we cannot aim merely to be good Negro teachers, good Negro doctors, good Negro ministers, good Negro skilled laborers. We must set out to do a good job, IRRESPECTIVE OF RACE, and do it so well that nobody could do it better.”