“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.”

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“The ultimate tragedy of Birmingham was not the brutality of the bad people, but the silence of the good people.”

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

“The time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us today... ...some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”