My personal assessment is that Dr. King is the greatest American we have ever produced. I can argue for Lincoln, I can argue for FDR, but for my money, King is the greatest American we have ever produced. His only weapon was love. He transforms a nation, transforms the world with one weapon and that of course being again the weapon of love. So that for me, King is the quintessential example of everything that I could ever want to be in my lifetime.

About Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smileyis an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana.

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More quotes from Tavis Smiley

My role on television is one of helping people reexamine the assumptions that they hold. I regard Dr. King. You would never hear me get up and speak without in some way, shape or form, referencing, Dr. King.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

This administration and these folk who run Washington are no more interested in our welfare and our well being than the man on the moon. And we have got to start taking our destiny into our hands.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

12, 13, you still lost your virginity. I don’t care how old you were.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

I thought our community should have a deep dialogue to make black America better. I believe if we make black America better, we make all of America better.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

Jamestown changed the world in many ways, but perhaps it shaped our nation most profoundly the day Africans arrived. I can’t think of a more relevant place to talk about the issues facing our community today than the place where African culture became American culture.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

We give you the facts. I told you information is power – knowledge is power. We can’t be in an ideological battle to redeem the soul of this country if we don’t have the facts.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

Give that to me so I can get out of here.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

When you work for something, you appreciate it more. So what are y’all going to do with all the opportunities you inherited that you didn’t have to work for?

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

How do you grow up in the shadow of a guy – I want to talk about the movie in a second – but how do you grow up in the shadow of a guy who really is a legend in his own time?

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

The storm came. Lives were washed away. Ancient pains resurfaced. Now it is time for a sea of change.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

My personal assessment is that Dr. King is the greatest American we have ever produced. I can argue for Lincoln, I can argue for FDR, but for my money, King is the greatest American we have ever produced. His only weapon was love. He transforms a nation, transforms the world with one weapon and that of course being again the weapon of love. So that for me, King is the quintessential example of everything that I could ever want to be in my lifetime.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

We believe that when you make Black America better – you make all of America better.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist

I don’t think that left to its own devices, capitalism moves along smoothly and everyone gets treated fairly in the process. Capitalism is like a child: if you want the child to grow up free and productive, somebody’s got to look over the shoulder of that child.

Tavis Smiley

Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist