If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why?

If silence seems to give approval, then remaining silent is cowardly.

Recorded · 'If You Ask Me' column, September 1944 · source

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.

Recorded · Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, 4 February 1968 · source

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that.

Recorded · Caltech commencement address, Pasadena, California, 1 June 1974 · source

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

Recorded · Oval Office, The White House, 11 January 1989 · source

Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, 5 June 1991 · source

I share Alfred Nobel's conviction that war is the greatest of all human disasters. Infectious disease runs a good second.

Recorded · Laureate-written autobiography for Les Prix Nobel, 1 December 1996 · source

At the age of 21, as a Moeid, I believed that behind every universal phenomenon there must be beauty and simplicity in its description. This belief remains true today.

Recorded · Laureate-written autobiography for Les Prix Nobel, 1 December 1999 · source

In this new century, we must start from the understanding that peace belongs not only to states or peoples, but to each and every member of those communities. The sovereignty of States must no longer be used as a shield for gross violations of human rights. Peace must be made real and tangible in the daily existence of every individual in need. Peace must be sought, above all, because it is the condition for every member of the human family to live a life of dignity and security.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2001 · source

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2002 · source

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2004 · source

In a poverty-free world, the only place you would be able to see poverty is in the poverty museums. When school children take a tour of the poverty museums, they would be horrified to see the misery and indignity that some human beings had to go through. They would blame their forefathers for tolerating this inhuman condition, which existed for so long, for so many people.

Recorded · Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2006 · source

There's the world's work to be done, and there are never enough citizens with determined hearts, courageous character, intelligent minds, and idealistic souls to do it. Yes, our world already has quite enough guns, political platitudes, arrogance, disingenuousness, self-interest, snobbishness, superficiality, war, and the certainty that God is on one side or the other. But it never has enough conscience, nor enough tolerance, idealism, justice, compassion, wisdom, humility, self-sacrifice for the greater good, integrity, courtesy, poetry, laughter, and generosity of substance and spirit. It is these elements that I urge you to carry into your careers, and remember that the great game of life is not about money; it is about doing your best to build the world anew.

Recorded · Georgetown University commencement, 18 May 2007 · source

One of the things, Bradman said has stayed in my mind. That the finest of athletes had, along with skill, a few more essential qualities: to conduct their life with dignity, with integrity, with courage and modesty. All this he believed, were totally compatible with pride, ambition, determination and competitiveness. Maybe those words should be put up in cricket dressing rooms all over the world.

Recorded · Bradman Oration, Anzac Hall, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 14 December 2011 · source

We cannot afford to be color blind. We have to be color brave. We have to be willing, as teachers and parents and entrepreneurs and scientists, we have to be willing to have proactive conversations about race with honesty and understanding and courage, not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's the smart thing to do, because our businesses and our products and our science, our research, all of that will be better with greater diversity.

Recorded · TED2014, 20 March 2014 · source

Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2014 · source

GIVE ME THE RESPECT I'VE EARNED AND GIVE IT TO MY WOLF PACK TOO.

Recorded · Barnard College commencement address, Radio City Music Hall, New York, 16 May 2018 · source

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

Recorded · Statement read by Rick Davis to reporters after McCain's death, 27 August 2018 · source

Taking action means saying 'no' to indifference. If there is a war to be waged, it is the war against the indifference which is eating away at our societies.

Recorded · Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2018 · source

Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, for nothing has to stay as it is.

Recorded · Tercentenary Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 30 May 2019 · source

To be remembered for all the things that you do and as someone who makes people smile, touches people's lives – that is what should wake you up every single morning.

Recorded · 8 November 2019 · source