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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 23

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One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust ... is in reality expressing the highest respect for law ... We will not obey your evil laws.

One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust ... is in reality expressing the highest respect for law ... We will not obey your evil laws.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reality, Law, Evil

Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as a means to the end of the state, but always as an end within himself.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Mean, Men

If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia, Africa, or South America. Is this not why nations engage in the madness of war without the slightest sense of penitence? Is this not why the murder of a citizen of your own nation is a crime, but the murder of citizens of another nation in war is an act of heroic virtue?

Martin Luther King, Jr.
War, America, Citizens
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Justice, Breaking Silence, Revolution
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.119, Beacon Press

Often the oppressor goes along unaware of the evil involved in his oppression so long as the oppressed accepts it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Long, Evil, Oppression
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

There is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Apathy, Too Late, Complacency

If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that's positive for them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire and it has to be presented in a compelling way so that they feel inspired to follow.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Moving, Parenting, Important Values

Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Father, Cities
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.87, Beacon Press

Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power, religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts, religion deals with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fall, Men, Two
"Strength to Love". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr. Ch. 1 : A tough mind and a tender heart, 1963.

Nothing degrades a man do more than the allowed stoop so low as to hate someone

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate, Men, Lows

We must have the faith that things will work out somehow, that God will make a way for us when there seems no way.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Work Out, Way, Spirituality

[I]t must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fighting, Coward, Doe

In spite of its glowing talk about the welfare of the masses, Communism's methods and philosophy strip man of his dignity and worth, leaving him as little more than a depersonalized cog in the ever-turning wheel of the state.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Philosophy, Men, Glowing
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

The great majority of Americans are suspended between these opposing attitudes. They are uneasy with injustice but unwilling yet to pay a significant price to eradicate it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Attitude, Majority, Pay

Loving Your Enemies... Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this demand is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes it is love that will save our world and civilization; love even for our enemies.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Peace, Our World, Civilization

There are always those who say legislation can't solve the problem. There is a half-truth involved here. It is true that legislation cannot solve the whole problem. It can solve some of the problem. It may be true that morality can't be legislated, but behavior can be regulated.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Half, May, Morality

I cannot make myself believe that God wanted me to hate. I'm tired of violence, I've seen too much of it. I've seen such hate on the faces of too many sheriffs in the South. And I'm not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use. Our oppressors have used violence. Our oppressors have used hatred. Our oppressors have used rifles and guns. I'm not going to stoop down to their level. I want to rise to a higher level. We have a power that can't be found in Molotov cocktails.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate, Believe, Tired

We have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We are still called upon to give aid to the beggar who finds himself in misery and agony on life's highway. But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Agony, Giving, Society

Nothing is so much needed as a secure family life for a people seeking to rise out of poverty and backwardness.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Family, People, Poverty
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

Love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power, in the universe.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love Is, Creative, Transforming
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., for Students”, p.27, Beacon Press

Nonviolence is a powerful as well as a just weapon. If you confront a man who has long been cruelly misusing you, and say, "Punish me, if you will; I do not deserve it, but I will accept it, so that the world will know I am right and you are wrong," then you wield a powerful and a just weapon. This man, your oppressor, is automatically morally defeated, and if he has any conscience, he is ashamed.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Powerful, Men, Long
Source: www.thedailybeast.com

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Justice, Water, I Have A Dream Speech
I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Change, Inspiring, Creativity
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., for Students”, p.30, Beacon Press

Nonviolent action, the Negro saw, was the way to supplement, not replace, the progress of change. It was the way to divest himself of passivity without arraying himself in vindictive force.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Progress, Way, Saws
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.26, Beacon Press

Even in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live, and in agonizing desperation they cry for the bread of hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men, Agonizing, Bread
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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