"There is a Mrs. King. There is also Coretta. How one became detached from the other remains a mystery to me. Most people who have followed my career from afar, or even given me a second thought, know me as Mrs. King: the wife of, the widow of, the mother of, the leader of. Makes me sound like the attachments that come with my vacuum cleaner. In one sense, I don't mind that at all. I'm proud to have been a wife, a single parent, and a leader. But I am more than a label. I am also Coretta. Isn't it time you know the integrated, holistic woman: one spirit, one soul, one destiny? In reading this memoir, I hope somehow you see Coretta."

"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated."

"I'm fulfilled in what I do... I never thought that a lot of money or fine clothes — the finer things of life — would make you happy. My concept of happiness is to be filled in a spiritual sense."

"We have to launch a national campaign against homophobia in the black community"

"We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say "common struggle" because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination."

"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members ... a heart of grace and a soul generated by love."

"On April 3, 1968, just before he was killed, Martin delivered his last public address. In it he spoke of the visit he and I made to Israel. Moreover, he spoke to us about his vision of the Promised Land, a land of justice and equality, brotherhood and peace. Martin dedicated his life to the goals of peace and unity among all peoples, and perhaps nowhere in the world is there a greater appreciation of the desirability and necessity of peace than in Israel."

"For many years now, I have been an outspoken supporter of civil and human rights for gay and lesbian people. Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions"

"I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy."

"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."

"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

"I support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 1994 because I believe that freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. My husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." On another occasion he said, "I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible." Like Martin, I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others. So I see this bill as a step forward for freedom and human rights in our country and a logical extension of the Bill of Rights and the civil rights reforms of the 1950s and '60's. The great promise of American democracy is that no group of people will be forced to suffer discrimination and injustice. I believe that this legislation will provide protection to a large group of working people, who have suffered persecution and discrimination for many years. To this endeavor, I pledge my wholehearted support."

"Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people."

"I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation."

"If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children."

"The more visible signs of protest are gone, but I think there is a realization that the tactics of the late sixties are not sufficient to meet the challenges of the seventies."

"Mama and Daddy King represent the best in manhood and womanhood, the best in a marriage, the kind of people we are trying to become."

"Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul."

"Our Congress passes laws that subsidize corporations, farms, oil companies, airlines, and houses for suburbia, but when they turn their attention to the poor they suddenly become concerned about balancing the budget and cut back on funds for Head Start."

"We must all begin to question the experts. They have not really been right. No abundance of material goods can compensate for the death of individuality and personal creativity."

"I'm more determined than ever that my husband's dream will become a reality."

"You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

"The Sizemores are the laughing stock of wannabee genealogy. They claim Cherokee descent, but their paper trail shows them to be white."

"Two people sat talking in a small room for several weeks, and things started happening. They began thinking about each other; one would dream about the other; they copied each other's mannerisms. What was it really all about? She liked to think she had a firm hold on the reins at all times, but the truth was that often she was just along for the ride."

"One day, maybe she'd stick around to explore her own capacity for the dark, but at the moment all she wanted was a cheeseburger."

"She had come planning to swim, which I hadn’t as the water is too cold for me, and she took off all her clothes, right there and then. “Do you feel shy?” I asked as she walked to the bank. “Nope. This here is what I done got. This is what me being alive looks like now.""

"We know by a certain age the great palace lies of the culture — if you buy or do or achieve this or that, you will be happy and rich. Nope. Love and service make us rich."

"The game of life is hard, and a lot of us are playing hurt."

"Do I think the sky is falling? Sort of."

"So Rita and I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed."

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."

"Joy is the best makeup."

"Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining."

"When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader."

"The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. Faith also means reaching deeply within, for the sense one was born with, the sense, for example, to go for a walk."

"Laughter is carbonated holiness."

"Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison, and then waiting around for the rat to die."

"100 years from now? All new people."

"..I thought the secret of life was obvious: be here now, love as if your whole life depended on it, find your life's work, and try to get hold of a giant panda."

"Leadership is all about unlocking the potential in others."

"Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!"

"Trump says a lot of things that are crazy... Trump's a moron."

"When people get to know me, they tend to support me... That's what you see in the polls."

"I think that's wrong... I actually believe that people of faith make better leaders... Whether they are Christians, as I am. My faith has sustained me through some very bad times. I've battled cancer, I've lost a child, I've been tested. But whether it's a person of Christian faith or Jewish faith or Muslim faith or other faiths, I think faith gives us humility, and empathy and optimism, and I think those are important things... Yes, I would be fine with that..."

"When I think of something that really is me, that I'm proud of, is honestly, I would have to say, I've never sold my soul along the way... All those things, you're selling your soul, and I don't think I have."

"Everyone truly does have God given gifts... Find them and use them, and don't let anyone else tell you that you are less than who you are."

"If you’ve had to overcome an obstacle or insecurity or fear... genuinely you can bet on that person because they have gathered themselves and found through their inner strength, they have determination, they have grit."

"I have to stand up for myself... I learned something that I could and should stand up for myself, and he learned something, which was she will stand up for herself."

"Childhood is precious... Hardest part of growing up? Is growing up, I think."

"Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton’s Christmas gift wrapped up under a tree. I am the lump of coal in her stocking."