My teachers treated me as a diamond in the rough, someone who needed smoothing."

"If Rosa Parks had taken a poll before she sat down in the bus in Montgomery, she'd still be standing."

"The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done."

"Civil Rights opened the windows. When you open the windows, it does not mean that everybody will get through. We must create our own opportunities."

"When it comes to the cause of justice, I take no prisoners and I don't believe in compromise."