Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter From A Birmingham Jail, 1963

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed"
in the view of those who have not suffered unduly...

For years now I have heard the word "Wait!"

...This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never."

We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists,
that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter From A Birmingham Jail, 1963