I think I saw death. I'm not so sure. I think you have to be prepared and be willing to place yourself in the way and be guided by what I like to call the spirit of history. I feel more than lucky. I feel very blessed that I had an opportunity to be caught up in something with a group of courageous young men and women and some not so young that were prepared and willing to put their bodies on the line to make our country, especially in the southern part of America, something different and something better.
Hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
I found it remarkable in your book and, indeed, in your conversation today how little hate there is. You never expressed a word of hatred for those who were beating you. Well, hate is too heavy a burden to bear. And if you accept nonviolence as a way of life, as a way of living, then you must be true, you must be consistent, because if you only accept nonviolence as a technique or as a tactic, you become like a faucet. You can turn it on and turn it off.