One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend. - Martin Luther King Jr.
...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. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. - Martin Luther King Jr.
But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. - 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.
Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear. - 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.
Nonviolence is power, but it is the right and good use of power. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We must use time creatively - and forever realize that the time is always hope to do great things. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We must substitute courage for caution. - Martin Luther King Jr.
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. - Martin Luther King Jr.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The non-violent resistor not only avoids external, physical violence, but he avoids internal violence of spirit. He not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he refuses to hate him. And he stands with understanding, goodwill at all times. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be taken by the oppressed. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface hidden tension that is already alive - Martin Luther King Jr.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. - Martin Luther King Jr.
But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. - Martin Luther King Jr.
No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We have flown the air like birds and swum the seas like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers. - 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.
I submit that 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.
God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed... Why be anxious? Come what may, God is able. - Martin Luther King Jr.
No person has the right to rain on your dreams. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. - Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. - Martin Luther King Jr.
the time is always right to do the right thing - Martin Luther King Jr.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and think critically. Intelligence plus character; that is the goal of a true education. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. - Martin Luther King Jr.
If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way - Martin Luther King Jr.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Only a "dry as dust" religion prompts a minister to extol the glories of Heaven while ignoring the social conditions that cause men an Earthly hell. - Martin Luther King Jr.
All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. - Martin Luther King Jr.
God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor. - Martin Luther King Jr.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. - Martin Luther King Jr.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love - Martin Luther King Jr.
We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both. - Martin Luther King Jr.
In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out: there are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and Negro alike. - Martin Luther King Jr.
One cannot worship the false god of nationalism and the God of Christianity at the same time. . - Martin Luther King Jr.
I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live. - 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.
No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for. - Martin Luther King Jr.
As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. - Martin Luther King Jr.
What affects one in a major way, affects all in a minor way. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We all came in on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now - Martin Luther King Jr.
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. - Martin Luther King Jr.
It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice. - Martin Luther King Jr.
When religion becomes so involved in a future good "over yonder" that it forgets the present evils over here it is as dry as dust religion and needs to be condemned. - 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.
All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Admitting the weighty problems and staggering disappointments, Christianity affirms that God is able to give us the power to meet them. He is able to give us inner equilibrium to stand tall amid the trials and burdens of life. He is able to provide inner peace amid our outer storms. - 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.
Only in the darkness can you see the stars. - Martin Luther King Jr.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. - 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.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Only God is able. It is faith in Him that we must rediscover. With this faith we can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism. - Martin Luther King Jr.
I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government. - 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.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools - Martin Luther King Jr.
Violence is not only impractical but immoral. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others? - Martin Luther King Jr.
To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. - 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.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We ain't what we oughta be. We ain't what we want to be. We ain't what we gonna be. But, thank God, we ain't what we was. - Martin Luther King Jr.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream. . . - Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others? - Martin Luther King Jr.
Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down."--From My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris - Martin Luther King Jr.
Through our scientific and technological genius we've made of this world a neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of it a brotherhood. We must all learn to live together as brothers—or we will all perish together as fools. - Martin Luther King Jr.
In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…. We demand this fraud be stopped. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Through violence you may murder the hater, but you cannot murder hate. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. - Martin Luther King Jr.
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. - 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.
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war. - Martin Luther King Jr.
If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live - 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.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Martin Luther King Jr.
What I'm saying to you this morning is that Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the Kingdom of Brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of Communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. - 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.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. - Martin Luther King Jr.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence. - 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.
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase. - Martin Luther King Jr.
If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. - Martin Luther King Jr.
we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will. And we shall continue to love you. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. - Martin Luther King Jr.
A right delayed is a right denied. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude. - Martin Luther King Jr.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. - 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.
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 is bent. - Martin Luther King Jr.
The question is not if 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.