Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Quotes

[W]e are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder. I for one am not ashamed of this past. My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us.

If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God's children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.

Mass civil disobedience can use rage as a constructive and creative force.

What you get with violence can be maintained only with violence

Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives.

Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

A strong man must be militant as well as moderate. He must be a realist as well as an idealist.

As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.

We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters.

Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.

Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, 'Love your enemies.' It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.

When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city...

Darkness cannot be overcome with more darkness, only with light. Violence cannot be overcome with more violence, only with peace.

Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.

Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another.

Our children need our presence, not our presents.

Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

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

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

No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.

There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.

A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.

Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

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

Perhaps...the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.

Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

Voting is the foundation stone for political action.

Good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism.

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

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

[E]very human life is a reflection of divinity, and... every act of injustice mars and defaces the image of God in man.

Without justice, there can be no peace.

You have to keep moving forward

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

Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.

It is our experience that the nation doesn't move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.

I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.

They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization.

Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.

Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change.

The strong man is the man who can stand up for his rights and not hit back.

Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.

[I] know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems.