Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

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.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

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.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

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.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

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.

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.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

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.

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.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

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 law.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

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.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

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.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

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.

Seeing is not always believing.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.

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.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, ‚Is it safe?‘ Expediency asks the question, ‚Is it politic?‘ And Vanity comes along and asks the question, ‚Is it popular?‘ But Conscience asks the question, ‚Is it right?‘

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.

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.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.

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.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

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.

We must use time creatively.

War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.

Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

The sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

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.

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.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

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.