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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 19

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Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sad, Business, Lying
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.37, Beacon Press

How hard it is for people to live without someone to look down upon-really to look down upon. It is not just that they feel cheated out of someone to hate. It is that they are compelled to look more closely into themselves and what they don't like about themselves.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate, People, Looks

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Uplifting, Work, Teaching
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Respect, Determination, Heart
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

We stand in life at midnight; we are always at the threshold of a new dawn.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hope, Dawn, Midnight

Without God, all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrise into the darkest of nights.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Night, Effort, Sunrise

We must shift the arms race into a 'peace race'.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Peace, Race, Arms
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010). “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”, p.214, Beacon Press

The great military leaders of the past have gone, their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jesus, Military, Past
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.54, Beacon Press

When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, it loses its social perspective.... There is something about a war like this that makes people insensitive. It dulls the conscience. It strengthens the forces of reaction, and it brings into being bitterness and hatred and violence.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
War, Gun, People

I just want to leave a committed life behind.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Want, Committed, Drum Major
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.224, Beacon Press

Babies, we are told, are the latest news from heaven.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Baby, Heaven, News

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.
Inspirational, Change, Strength

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.
Morning, Justice, Brotherhood

It's not how long you live, it's how well you live.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Long, Wells

Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language. They made everything Black ugly and evil. Look in your dictionaries and see the synonyms of the word Black. It's always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word White, it's always something pure, high and clean.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beautiful, Lying, White
"The Unfathomably Weird Case of Rachel Doležal" by Andrew Stewart, www.counterpunch.org. June 16, 2015.

There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Giving Up, People, Black History
"Three Ways of Meeting Oppression". Essay by Martin Luther King, Jr., taken from MLK's book "Stride Toward Freedom", 1958.

If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Loyalty, Church
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.103, Beacon Press

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Writing, Ideas, Evil

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strong, Men, Rights
"Martin Luther King unmoved by death threats" by WJ Weatherby, www.theguardian.com. May 24, 1961.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . .

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Struggle, Sacrifice, Progress
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. The idealists are not usually realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. The militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant. Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble. But life at it's best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strong, Humble, Men
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

Procrastinatio n is still the thief of time.

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

In order to be true to one's conscience and true to God, a righteous man has no alternative but to refuse to cooperate with an evil system.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men, Righteous Man, Order
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Kings, Hate, Light
"A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings".

The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But, the way of nonviolence leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved community.

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

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