When my heart can beat no more, I hope I die for a principle or a belief that I have lived for.

What we live by we die by.

My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.'

Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry.

All human beings have a desire to belong and to feel significant and important. And the way to solve this problem is not to drown out the ego but to find your sense of importance in something outside of the self. Sometimes it's friends, sometimes it's family, sometimes it's a great cause, it's a great loyalty, but give yourself to that something and life becomes meaningful.

Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change.