Coretta Scott King Quotes
110 Coretta Scott King Quotes
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[On making it clear that Martin Luther King Jr’s dream was hers as well] I didn’t learn my commitment from Martin Luther King Jr. We just converged at a certain time.
Coretta Scott King
[In 1948] I came North with a good deal of fear that I wouldn’t be able to fit into the very different environment. [But she knew this move might enable her to achieve her goals] … the chance to better my condition, to acquire prestige, to earn my living.
Coretta Scott King
[On Antioch’s cooperative training program] It makes studies a lot more exciting if you can see how they fit into supporting yourself.
Coretta Scott King
[On her supervisor suggesting she teach instead in the Antioch Demonstration school] I could have done that in Alabama. I came up here to get away from that kind of thing.
Coretta Scott King
[In her student days] Concert work is uncertain, and whether or not I can secure recognition as a concert artist. I shall be able to support myself and get satisfaction from my job.
Coretta Scott King
[Before meeting Martin Luther King Jr she had no aspirations towards become a ministers wife and thought he was probably] an older man, pious, narrow-minded and not too well-trained, like most of the preachers I had known around my Marion, Alabama home.
Coretta Scott King
[On Martin Luther King Jr] The more I saw of him, the more I liked him. There was something about him that sort of grows on you.
Coretta Scott King
He [Martin Luther King Jr] talked so often about what he planned to do with his life, of what he hoped to contribute to the race and to humanity at large…
Coretta Scott King
Do I love him [Martin Luther King Jr] enough to make any sacrifice? … Yes. Can I give him up and not miss him? … No.
Coretta Scott King
[In an early speech] The generation gap is a positive thing if it separates evil ideologies and customs of the past from the free spirit that animates much of the contemporary movement. The young understand this society better than their elders thing, and better, perhaps, even than their elders themselves.
Coretta Scott King
[On Martin Luther King Jr] A great man, a great father and a great husband.
Coretta Scott King
[In 1968] the problems of racism, poverty and war can all be summarized with one word, ‘violence’ which seems to be fashionable in our society. If we do not stop this madness, we will certainly destroy ourselves and the whole world.
Coretta Scott King
Women, if the soul of this nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul. You must speak out against the evils of our time as you see them. Those of us women who have been blessed with the privilege of bearing children have the sacred task of rearing them with a knowledge and understanding of our democratic heritage and the eternal values of love, justice, mercy and peace. As women and mothers, we have a common concern for the happiness of our children and their families, to unite our efforts throughout the world.
Coretta Scott King
[On the war in Vietnam in 1968] the most cruel and evil war in the history of mankind. If enough women spoke out against the Vietnam war, and stood firm in their opposition, even to be willing to go to jail if necessary, I think it would make a tremendous impact on the President and the policy makers of this nation.
Coretta Scott King
Somehow I hope in the Resurrection experience the will will be created that has a heart and mind and soul and spirit of those who have the power to make these changes come about. If this can be done, then I know that his death will be the redemptive force that he so often talked about in terms of giving his life to a great cause and the things he believed in.
Coretta Scott King
I had great parents. My father was one of the strongest men, emotionally, physically. He never became bitter though he had been persecuted trying to feed his family.
Coretta Scott King
My mother was also very strong, a feminist for her time. She did things that men did, and later drove a school bus.
Coretta Scott King
His [Her father Obadiah Scott] said to my mother ‘I might be killed anytime.’ So I grew up knowing something about fear, and then when Montgomery started we had the same kind of thing with me and my husband when I had to answer those (threatening) phone calls most of the time. So I guess it was the fact that I was being prepared earlier on for the role that I would play later. There is no question in my mind that this didn’t all tie together.
Coretta Scott King
There is no question in my mind that there was a plan, a pattern.
Coretta Scott King
[On meeting Martin Luther King Jr] The way we met was by way of telephone. I had heard of him and he had heard of me.
Coretta Scott King
My father is a most industrious man. If he’d been white he’d be Mayor of Marion, Alabama. [Others say she underestimates him and said they’d doubt if he’d stop at the Alabama governorship.]
Coretta Scott King
I don’t believe that black people are going to misuse power in the way it has been misused. I think they’ve learned from their experiences. And we’ve seen instances where black and white work together very effectively. This is true even in places where you have a black majority, in Hancock Country, Georgia, for example, or Fayette, Mississippi, where Charles Evers is Mayor.
Coretta Scott King
It is very difficult to get people beyond the point of seeing nonviolence as something you do on marches and in demonstrations. It is harder to get people to the point of organizing to bring pressure to bear on changing society. People who think non violence is easy don’t realize that it’s a spiritual discipline that requires a great deal of strength, growth, and purging of the self so that one can overcome almost any obstacle for the good of all without being concerned about one’s own welfare.
Coretta Scott King
[On regretting he (Martin Luther King Jr) never had time to get around to addressing women as women] We have never used, the woman power that we had.
Coretta Scott King
He [Martin Luther King Jr] never felt comfortable about being away so much. I don’t think anybody who must be away from home a lot can really resolve this. But what you have to do is spend as much time with your family as you can and make the time that you spend meaningful.
Coretta Scott King
Maybe I shouldn’t say this, because I don’t know it, it’s just a feeling I have… but few black men seem to feel secure enough as men that they can make women feel like women. It was such a good feeling that Martin gave me, since the first time I met him. He was such a strong man that I felt like a woman, I could be a women, and let him be a man. Yet he too was affected by the system, as a black man; in spite of everything he always came through as a man, a person of dignity. … I miss this now, very much. Since my husband’s death I’ve had to struggle on alone, and I can appreciate now, more than ever, how important it is to have somebody to share things with, to have someone who cares, someone who is concerned.
Coretta Scott King
[With an exasperating laugh] It IS annoying to have men constantly saying things like ‘I know that must be a woman driver!’
Coretta Scott King
The black woman has a special role to play. Our heritage of suffering and our experience in having to struggle against all odds to raise our children gives us a greater capacity of understanding both suffering and the need and meaning of compassion. We have, I think, a kind of stamina, a determination, which makes us strong.
Coretta Scott King
Women, in general, are not a part of the corruption of the past, so they can give a new kind of leadership, a new image for mankind. But if they are going to be bitter or vindictive they are not going to be able to do this. But they’re capable of tremendous compassion, love, and forgiveness, which, if they use it, can make this a better world. When you think of what some black women have gone through, and then look at how beautiful they still are! It is incredible that they still believe in the values of the race, that they have retained a love of justice, that they can still feel the deepest compassion, not only for themselves but for anybody who is oppressed; this is a kind of miracle, something we have that we must preserve and pass on.
Coretta Scott King
[On whether she had heard from Vice President Nixon when Martin Luther King Jr was in jail.] He’s been very quiet.
Coretta Scott King
[On Kennedy she was lead to believe he] Would do what he could to see that Mr King is let out of jail.
Coretta Scott King
Be ashamed to all until you have won some victory for humanity.
Coretta Scott King
[She was] more determined than ever that her husband’s dream would become a reality.
Coretta Scott King
Even at the time we were courting. Martin Luther King Jr was deeply concerned – and indignant – with the plight of the Negro in the United States.
Coretta Scott King
[On the first bus that passed their house in Montgomery during the Montgomery Bus Boycott] Martin, Martin come quickly! It’s empty.
Coretta Scott King
[On Martin he] was a typical man. Smoothness. Jive. Some of it I had never heard in my life. It was what I call intellectual Jive.
Coretta Scott King
[On Coretta and Martin we] never had one single serious discussion about either of us being involved with another person.
Coretta Scott King
The third kind of love was agape… This was the kind of love Martin [Luther King Jr] aspired to give him enemies. If, because of the defect in the English language he sometimes sounded mild, just remember that his was a militant life and a militant love.
Coretta Scott King
If it had not been for E. D. Nixon, we would not have had the freedom movement as early as we did. If it had not been for him, Martin Luther King Jr, would not have been involved that early.
Coretta Scott King
It was characteristic of my husband that in 1967 when confusion in the civil rights struggle abounded he would undertake a book titled Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? He not only took the responsibility for leadership, he toiled vigorously to offer discerning leadership.
Coretta Scott King
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