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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 15

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If you've got nothing worth dying for, you've got nothing worth living for.

If you've got nothing worth dying for, you've got nothing worth living for.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dying, Worth Living, Ifs

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Forgiveness, Wisdom, Evil

Agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it's what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Men, Creative
"Loving Your Enemies". Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Powerful, Self Esteem, Night
Martin Luther King, Jr. (2016). “MLK on "The Other America" and "Black Power"”, p.15, Beacon Press

There is no gain without struggle.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Struggle, Gains

We can walk through the darkest night with the radiant conviction that all things work together for the good.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Spiritual, Night, Working Together

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reflection, Men, Mars

The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Real, Racism, Evil
"Yes, the Martin Luther King Jr. Estate Approved That Ram Trucks Super Bowl Ad" by April Glaser, slate.com. February 4, 2018.

When we rise in the morning... at the table we drink coffee which is provided to us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African; before we leave for our jobs we are already beholden to more than half the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Morning, Jobs

The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Intelligent, Thinking, Class
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Michael K. Honey (2011). “All Labor Has Dignity”, p.115, Beacon Press

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Destiny, Men, Decision
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Heart, One Day
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Determination, Powerful, Moving
I've Been to the Mountaintop, delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee

In the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and, ultimately, destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mean, Finals, Analysis
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010). “The Trumpet of Conscience”, p.59, Beacon Press

There is no easy way to create a world where men and women can live together... But if such a world is created in our lifetime, it will be done by rejecting the racism, materialism, and violence that has characterized Western civilization and especially by working toward a world of brotherhood, cooperation, and peace.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men, Civilization, Racism
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.158, Beacon Press

Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
One Thing

It is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Heart, May, Opponents
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.75, Beacon Press

A third reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate, Love Is, Enemy
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of the slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Taken, Mean, Talking

We must recognize that we can't solve our problems now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power.... a radical restructuring of the architecture of American society.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Political, Society, Politics

A religion true to its nature must also be concerned about man's social conditions....A ny religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men, Dust, Soul

And so we shall have to do more than register and more than vote; we shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with enthusiasm.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ethical Principles, Leader, Enthusiasm

Music is the best consolation for a despaired man

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men, Music Is, Consolation

Violence multiplies violence.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Violence
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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.
Dream, Peace, One Day
I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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