Authors:

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 14

All Quotes 4th Of July Abuse Acceptance Adversity Age Aids Anger Apathy Attitude Being Strong Belief Betrayal Black History Brotherhood Business Cancer Challenges Change Character Charity Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Civil Rights Coffee College Commitment Communism Community Compassion Conflict Country Courage Creativity Crime Criticism Culture Darkness Death Death Penalty Defeat Democracy Destiny Determination Dignity Disappointment Discipline Diversity Drinking Dying Earth Education Effort Encouragement Energy Equality Evil Faith Fear Feelings Fighting Forgiveness Freedom Friendship Frustration Fun Generosity Giving Giving Up God Goodness Greatness Growth Hard Work Hate Hatred Heart Heaven Helping Others History Home Hope Human Nature Humanity Humility Hurt Ignorance Independence Injustice Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Jazz Jesus Judging Justice Knowledge Leadership Learning Leaving Legacy Liars Liberty Life Love Love And Hate Love Life Loyalty Lying Madness Mankind Marriage Materialism Military Money Morality Morning Motivation Motivational Mountain Moving Forward Nonviolence Opportunity Oppression Optimism Overcoming Pain Passion Past Patriotism Peace Persistence Personality Perspective Philosophy Police Politics Positive Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Procrastination Progress Protest Purpose Quality Racism Rage Reality Respect Responsibility Revenge Revolution Risk Running Sacrifice Sad Salvation School Science Segregation Self Esteem Silence Sin Slavery Socialism Society Son Soul Spirituality Strength Struggle Study Success Suffering Surrender Survival Survivor Teaching Time Today Tragedy Truth Uncertainty Unconditional Love Understanding Unity Universe Victory Violence Vision Volunteer Voting Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Welfare Winning Wisdom Work Worship Writing Yoga
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
War, Society, Vietnam

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sad, Justice, Elbows

The law of "An eye for an eye" will eventually leave everyone blind.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Eye, Law, Blind

The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Change, Pain, Fear
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Alternatives, Attention, Tonight
"The Other America". Speech Grosse Pointe High School, www.gphistorical.org. March 14, 1968.

I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Opportunity, Giving, Sunlight
Thomas F. Jackson, Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2007). “From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice”, p.298, University of Pennsylvania Press

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Peace, Government

We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Faith, Inspiration, Breaking Silence
Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Problem, Life Is, Interruptions
"Quick Guide & Transcript: Review the week's headlines, Reflect on the last days of MLK". "CNN Student News", www.cnn.com. January 18, 2007.

In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
War, Responsibility, Marijuana

By...our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim; by allowing our movie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who masters the art of shooting and the technique of killing...we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Art, Children, Hero
"I have a Dream: the Life and Times of Martin Luther King, Jr". Book by Lenwood G. Davis, p.266, 1973.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Real, Luxury, America
I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

I was much more afraid in Montgomery when I had a gun in my house. When I decided that I couldn’t keep a gun, I came face-to-face with the question of death and I dealt with it. From that point on, I no longer needed a gun nor have I been afraid. Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Gun, Safety, House

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.
Love, Hate, War
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

Truth is not to be found either in traditional capitalism or in Marxism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically, capitalism failed to discern the truth in collective enterprise and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Political, Truth Is, Individual
Kenneth L. Smith, Martin Luther King (Jr.), Ira G. Zepp (1986). “Search for the beloved community: the thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Univ Pr of Amer

Actually, 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 bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Covered Up, Direct Action, Medicine
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “Why we can't wait”

At times, life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and painful moments. Like the ever flowing water of a river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changin cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of the summers and the piercing chill of its winters. But through it all, God walks with us. Never forget that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Summer, Religious, Dark

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Struggle, Night, Civilization
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.117, Beacon Press

I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and the root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems we face as a race.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Deep Affection, Race, Views

One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Animal, Soul, One Day

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mean, Jail, Use
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.69, Beacon Press

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.
Integrity, Anger, Character
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.96, Beacon Press

Without hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hard Work, Allies, Helping

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.
Direct Action, Alive, Surface
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.62, Beacon Press

Something should remind us once more that the great things in this universe are things that we never see.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Should, Great Things, Universe

You May Also Like: