I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humanness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves; not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.
It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.
There are those who say to you - we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late.
We are in danger of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost.