An individual has not
started living until he can rise above the narrow
confines of his
--Martin
Luther King Jr.
.
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him
is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of
imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the
community over its injustice, is in reality expressing
the highest respect for the law.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
At the center of
non-violence stands the principle of love.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of
inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
And so we must straighten our backs and work for our
freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out
hate; only love can do that.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws
at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to
remind them that the lie of their inferiority is
accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Every man must decide whether he will
walk in the light of creative altruism or in the
darkness of destructive selfishness.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
.
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we
do not see.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see
the whole staircase.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must move past
indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for
peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the
developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If
we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long,
dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those
who possess power without compassion, might without
morality, and strength without sight.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.,
"CONSCIENCE AND THE VIETNAM WAR" in The Trumpet of
Conscience (1968)
Freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded
by the oppressed.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Have we not come to such an impasse in
the modern world that we must love our enemies - or
else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate,
wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we
shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
He who passively accepts evil is as much
involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who
accepts evil without protesting against it is really
cooperating with it.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
History will have to record that the
greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was
not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the
appalling silence of the good people.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Human progress is neither
automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal
of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle;
the tireless exertions and passionate concern of
dedicated individuals.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Human salvation lies in
the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I am convinced that love
is the most durable power in the world. It is not an
expression of impractical idealism, but of practical
realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a
Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the
survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate
does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the
universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion
enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this
can only be done through love.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I am not interested in power for power's
sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is
right and that is good.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I believe that unarmed
truth and unconditional love will have the final word in
reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is
stronger than evil triumphant.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that my
four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but
by the content of their character.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that one day every valley
shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made
low, the rough places will be made straight and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall
see it together.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that one
day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able
to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons
of former slave owners will be able to sit together at
the table of brotherhood.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
At Oslo I suggested that
the philosophy and strategy of non-violence become
immediately a subject for study and serious
experimentation in every field of human conflict,
including relations between nations. This was not, I
believe, an unrealistic suggestion. World peace through
non-violent means is neither absurd nor unattainable.
All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew.
Non-violence is a good starting point. Those of us who
believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity
and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred
and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of
which a system of peace can be built. Racial injustice
around the world. Poverty. War. When man solves these
three great problems he will have squared his moral
progress with his scientific progress. And more
importantly, he will have learned the practical art of
living in harmony.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., "DREAMS OF BRIGHTER
TOMORROWS" (March 1965)
.
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a
burden to bear.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I just want to do God's
will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And
I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may
not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight
that we as a people will get to the promised land.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I just want to do God's
will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And
I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I look to a day when
people will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind
is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of
racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that
unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final
word.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I submit that an
individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him
is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying
in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over
its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest
respect for law.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I submit to you that if a man hasn't
discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit
to live.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
I want to be the white
man's brother, not his brother-in-law.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
If a man hasn't
discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit
to live.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
If physical death is the price that I
must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a
permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more
redemptive.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
If we are to go forward, we must go back
and rediscover those precious values - that all reality
hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has
spiritual control.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
In the End, we will remember not the
words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
It is incontestable and deplorable that
Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative
crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white
society.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
It is not enough to say we must not wage
war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
It may be true that the law cannot make a
man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I
think that's pretty important.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Law and order exist for the purpose of
establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose
they become the dangerously structured dams that block
the flow of social progress.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Law and order exist for the purpose of
establishing justice, and... when they fail to do this
purpose they become dangerously structured dams that
block the flow of social progress.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Life's most persistent
and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Life's most urgent
question is: what are you doing for others?
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Love is the only force
capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a
method which rejects revenge, aggression and
retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Man must evolve for all
human conflict a method which rejects revenge,
aggression, and retaliation.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Means we use must be as
pure as the ends we seek.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Never forget that
everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Never succumb to the temptation of
bitterness.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Nonviolence is a powerful
and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and
ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that
heals.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Nonviolence means
avoiding not only external physical violence but also
internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to
shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Nothing in all the world is more
dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Nothing in the world is
more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
One of the greatest
casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Good Society...
shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
In struggling for human
dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow
themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate
campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would
do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along
the way of life, someone must have sense enough and
morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can
be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the
center of our lives.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
There are two types of laws: there are just laws and
there are unjust laws... What is the difference between
the two?...An unjust law is a man-made code that is out
of harmony with the moral law.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in
moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where
he stands in moments of challenge and moments of
controversy.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
One who breaks an unjust
law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who
willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order
to arouse the conscience of the community over its
injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect
for law.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Our lives begin to end the day we become
silent about things that matter.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Our scientific power has outrun our
spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided
men.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Peace is not merely a distant goal that
we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Philanthropy is
commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to
overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which
make philanthropy necessary.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Pity may represent little more than the
impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check,
but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands
the giving of one's soul.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Property is intended to serve life, and
no matter how much we surround it with rights and
respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the
earth man walks on. It is not man.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Rarely do we find men who willingly
engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost
universal quest for easy answers and half-baked
solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to
think.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Science investigates
religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which
is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Seeing is not always believing.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Shallow understanding from people of good
will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding
from people of ill will.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Take the first step in faith. You don't
have to see the whole staircase, just take the first
step.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
That old law about
'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is
always right to do the right thing.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The art of acceptance is the art of
making someone who has just done you a small favor wish
that he might have done you a greater one.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The first question which the priest and
the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what
will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed
the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what
will happen to him?"
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The function of education is to teach one
to think intensively and to think critically.
Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true
education.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The hope of a secure and livable world
lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated
to justice, peace and brotherhood.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for
those who remain neutral in times of great moral
conflict.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The limitation of
riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win
and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not
revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat.
It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be
followed by a sense of futility.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The means by which we live have
outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific
power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided
missiles and misguided men.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The moral arc of the universe bends at
the elbow of justice.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The Negro needs the
white man to free him from his fears. The white man
needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The past is
prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor
chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The quality, not the longevity, of one's
life is what is important.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The question is not whether we will be
extremist but what kind of extremist will we be.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The question is not
whether we will be extremists, but what kind of
extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in
dire need of creative extremists.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The sweltering summer of the Negro's
legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The time is always
right to do what is right.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The ultimate measure of a man is not
where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
The ultimate tragedy is not the
oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence
over that by the good people.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
There can be no
deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
There is nothing more tragic than to find
an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid
of breadth.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
To be a Christian without prayer is no
more possible than to be alive without breathing.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
War is a poor chisel to carve out
tomorrow.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Wars are poor chisels for carving out
peaceful tomorrows.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We are not makers of history. We are made
by history.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We have guided
missiles and misguided men.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We may have all come on different ships,
but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must accept finite disappointment, but
never lose infinite hope.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must build dikes of courage to hold
back the flood of fear.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must concentrate not merely on the
negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of
peace.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must develop and
maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of
the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in
the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone
to hate our enemies.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must learn to live together as
brothers or perish together as fools.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We must use time creatively.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We who engage in nonviolent direct action
are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the
surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We who in engage in nonviolent direct
action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring
to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We will have to
repent in this generation not merely for the hateful
words and actions of the bad people but for the
appalling silence of the good people.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We will have to repent in this generation
not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the
bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good
people.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
We will remember
not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our
friends.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I
can never be what I ought to be until you are what you
ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of
reality.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Whatever your
life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so
well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do
it no better.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
When you are right you
cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be
too conservative.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
In
the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.:
Truth and
non-violence are not cloistered virtues but applicable
as much in the forum and the legislatures as in the
market place.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at
will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an
inseparable part of our very being.
--Mahatma Gandhi
There is no way to peace; peace is the way.
--A.J. Muste
The survival of democracy depends on the renunciation of
violence and the development of nonviolent means to
combat evil and advance the good.
--A.J. Muste
Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no
knowing where it will take one. Intolerance, someone has
said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is
violence to the heart.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of
weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory
acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active,
not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing
automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required
for using non-violent methods in political struggle and
the quest for Truth.
--Mahatma Gandhi
I contend that non-violent acts exert pressure far more
effective than violent acts, for the pressure
comes from goodwill and gentleness.
--Mahatma Gandhi
I believe that it is impossible to end hatred with
hatred.
--Mahatma Gandhi
