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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 7

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This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do

This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Passion, Pride, Men
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.18, Beacon Press

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living. If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, brethren! Be careful, teachers!

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Teacher, Character, College
Martin Luther King (1992). “The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr”, p.124, Univ of California Press

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Happiness, Being Happy, Self Esteem

Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Country, Struggle, Rights

Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Motivation, Helping Others, Community

Agape is disinterested love. . . . Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. . . . Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friend and enemy; it is directed toward both.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Faith, People, Enemy
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

Your truth will increase as you know listen to the truth of others

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Increase, Knows

The most dangerous type of atheism is not theoretical atheism, but practical atheism -that's the most dangerous type. And the world, even the church, is filled up with people who pay lip service to God and not life service. And there is always a danger that we will make it appear externally that we believe in God when internally we don't. We say with our mouths that we believe in him, but we live with our lives like he never existed. That is the ever-present danger confronting religion. That's a dangerous type of atheism.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspiring, Believe, Filled Up
"Rediscovering Lost Values". Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, February 28, 1954.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Relationship, Inspiring
"Loving Your Enemies" by Martin Luther King, Jr., Christmas, 1957.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Compassion, People, Needs

We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brother, Air, Sea

Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

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

Courage faces fear and thereby masters it. Cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Faces, Cowardice, Masters
Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.120, Beacon Press

Love is the most durable power in the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love Is, World
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “"Thou, Dear God": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits”, p.51, Beacon Press

The poor in our countries have been shut out of our minds and driven from the mainstream of our societies, because we have allowed them to become invisible.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Country, Mind, Our Society
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.86, Beacon Press

We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Brother, Yoga

In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist. You are in a real way depriving him of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, denying in his case the very creed of his society.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jobs, Real, Men
Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1989). “The trumpet of conscience”, HarperCollins

History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Teacher, Simple, Labour Movement
Speech to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL - CIO), December 11, 1961.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Block, Order, Law
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.62, Beacon Press

Injustice and corruption will never be transformed by keeping them hidden, but only by bringing them out into the light and confronting them with the power of love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Light, Injustice, Corruption

If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Loyalty, Mean, Race
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “The trumpet of conscience”, Harpercollins

There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of soft mindedness. A nation or a civilization that continues to produce soft minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Spiritual, Ignorance, Men

The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Time, Important

The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pain, May, Life Is
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose... one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites --- polar opposites --- so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love... What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love Is, Opposites, Justice

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