Quotes: Remembering Coretta Scott King

"It's a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it's a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was." _ poet Maya Angelou on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"We will miss her. But she certainly picked up the baton when it was dropped by her husband's assassination and continued to move forward in the civil rights arena." _ Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

"She was truly the first lady of the human rights movement. The only thing worse than losing her is if we never had her." _ the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.

"Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King awakened the conscience of a nation that began the journey toward equality, knocking down the walls of discrimination based on race, on religion, and on ethnicity. We have all benefited so much from their inspiration and their leadership." _ Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

"When the voice of the movement was tragically silenced, the wife of the fallen leader took up his cause and marched forward. Coretta Scott King shared her husband's dream for an America where their children 'will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'" _ Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

"She wore her grief with grace; she exerted her leadership with dignity." _ the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"The great thing I have is every year for Christmas and birthday I get a birthday card from her. I look forward to Christmas. I look forward to my birthday, because of that. I just love her. You cannot look at her face and tell what she has been through." _ activist-comedian Dick Gregory to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"Mrs. King will be known around the world as her own great leader. I'm just so happy now that she can join her husband Martin." _ Georgia state Rep. Tyrone Brooks on WSB-TV in Atlanta.