Coretta Scott King Quotes

“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.”

— Coretta Scott King

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

— Coretta Scott King

“When Good Friday comes, these are the moments in life when we feel there's no hope. But then, Easter comes.”

— Coretta Scott King

“If American women 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.”

— Coretta Scott King

“I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”

— Coretta Scott King

I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called education people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from fiction.

— Coretta Scott King

“Like life, racial understanding is not something that we find but something that we must create. And so the ability of Negroes and whites to work together, to understand each other, will not be found readymade; it must be created by the fact of contact.”

— Coretta Scott King

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.

— Coretta Scott King

“Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.”

— Coretta Scott King

“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”

— Coretta Scott King

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

— Coretta Scott King

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

— Coretta Scott King

“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.”

— Coretta Scott King

It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem.

— Coretta Scott King

An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed in retaliation.

— Coretta Scott King

“I am convinced that the women of the world, united without any regard for national or racial dimensions, can become a most powerful force for international peace and brotherhood.”

— Coretta Scott King

“When the heart is right, the mind and the body will follow.”

— Coretta Scott King

“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.”

— Coretta Scott King

“When you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will never be alone.”

— Coretta Scott King

“Justice is never advanced in the taking of human life.”

— Coretta Scott King

Love is such a powerful force. It's there for everyone to embrace-that kind of unconditional love for all of humankind. That is the kind of love that impels people to go into the community and try to change conditions for others, to take risks for what they believe in.

— Coretta Scott King

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.

— Coretta Scott King

How many men must die before we can really have a free and true and peaceful society? How long will it take?

— Coretta Scott King

“If a man had nothing that was worth dying for, then he was not fit to live.”

— Coretta Scott King

“I always knew that I was called to do something. I didn't know what, but I finally rationalized after I met Martin [Luther King, Jr.] and it took a lot of praying to discover this, that this was probably what God had called me to do, to marry him.”

— Coretta Scott King

Without Coretta Scott King, there would not have been a Martin Luther King, Jr. in the way that we know him.

— Coretta Scott King

It's going to take an act of Congress to deal with poverty and hunger, not only in this country, but throughout the world. We have the resources but we don't have the will.

— Coretta Scott King

As one whose husband and mother-in-law have died the victims of murder and assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by a legalized murder.

— Coretta Scott King

“To really know someone is to have loved and hated him in turn.”

— Coretta Scott King

“Money is necessary
both to support a family and to advance causes one believes in.”

— Coretta Scott King

“We have to launch a national campaign against homophobia in the black community,”

— Coretta Scott King

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

— Coretta Scott King

“Violence diminishes our humanity.”

— Coretta Scott King

This was really what I was supposed to be doing, and it was a great blessing to have discovered this, and to be doing what was God's will for your life.

— Coretta Scott King

“We have an historic opportunity for a great global healing and renewal. If we will accept the challenge of nonviolent activism with faith, courage, and determination, we can bring this great vision of a world united in peace and harmony from a distant ideal into glowing reality.”

— Coretta Scott King

“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. The civil rights movement thrives on unity and inclusion, not division and exclusion. My husband's struggle parallels that of the gay rights movement.”

— Coretta Scott King

“If sexual relations between consenting adults are not part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution, then American democracy is in trouble.”

— Coretta Scott King

“A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.”

— Coretta Scott King

“As an African American child growing up in the segregated South, I was told, one way or another, almost every day of my life, that I wasn't as good as a white child.”

— Coretta Scott King

Isn't it strange how the leaders of nations can talk so eloquently about peace while they prepare for war? ... There is no way to make peace while preparing for war.

— Coretta Scott King

“When aroused the American conscience is a powerful force for reform.”

— Coretta Scott King

“The greatest violence is seeing a child go to bed hungry.”

— Coretta Scott King

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.

— Coretta Scott King

“Lesbian and gay people are a permanent part of the American workforce, who currently have no protection from the arbitrary abuse of their rights on the job.”

— Coretta Scott King

I think if people really read Martin Luther King, Jr., then they would begin to understand what he really represented. The philosophy that he developed, of course, he was greatly influenced by Gandhi and Jesus Christ.

— Coretta Scott King

“Nonviolence is a method that transforms, first of all, the individual once you understand it and embrace it. It begins with you and, if you can, about transforming individuals so that they love unconditionally.”

— Coretta Scott King

“People have to allow themselves to be used by God and Martin [Luther King, Jr.] committed himself totally to God's will and purpose and God is always waiting for someone who is willing to do that.”

— Coretta Scott King

Because Dr. King was human and not divine - although we think he was divine, he was just a man, an extraordinary man, but a man - and he would get depressed from time to time and disappointed about all kinds of things relative to the movement.

— Coretta Scott King

Behind every good man, there's a good woman reminding you I knew you when you didn't have nothing.

— Coretta Scott King

“If Martin [Luther King, Jr.]'s philosophy had been embraced and lived out in Iraq and other places, we wouldn't have bin Ladens.”

— Coretta Scott King