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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes about Wisdom

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To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Evil, Good And Evil
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Peace, Kings
"Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Friendship, Wisdom, Kings
"The Trumpet of Conscience". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s steeler lecture at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Education, Wisdom, Lying
"Encore : A Continuing Anthology‬". Book by Smith Dent, p. 309, March 1945.

I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end (purpose) of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Wisdom, Pain

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Pain, Divorce
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sad, Wisdom, Bad Relationship
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

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

Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Country, Children
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.230, University of Pennsylvania Press

A host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts among husbands, wives and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on the scale of dollars is eliminated.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Husband, Children
"Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967.

When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; 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.
Wisdom, Brother, Anger

A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will "thingify" them and make them things. And therefore, they will exploit them and poor people generally economically. And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and it will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. What I'm saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, "America, you must be born again!"

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Military, Years

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Forgiveness, Wisdom, Evil

Truth is found neither in Marxism nor in traditional capitalism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically capitalism failed to see the truth in collective enterprise, and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise. Nineteenth century capitalism failed to see that life is social and Marxism failed and still fails to see that life is individual and personal. The Kingdom of God is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truths of both.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Synthesis, Kingdoms
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2015). “The Radical King”, p.32, Beacon Press

The thing that we need in the world today, is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and be opposed to wrong, wherever it is. A group of people who have come to see that some things are wrong, whether they’re never caught up with. Some things are right, whether nobody sees you doing them or not.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Change, Wisdom, Men
"Rediscovering Lost Values". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Sermon at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. February 28, 1954.

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Emotional, Winning
Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1989). “The trumpet of conscience”, HarperCollins

Capitalism is always in danger of inspiring men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity-thus capitalism can lead to a practical materialism that is as pernicious as the materialism taught by communism.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Men, Judging
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

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

With all of its false assumptions and evil methods, communism grew as a protest against the hardships of the underprivileged. Communism in theory emphasized a classless society, and a concern for social justice, though the world knows from sad experience that in practice it created new classes and a new lexicon of injustice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Practice, Class
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Success, Wisdom, World
Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.11, Beacon Press

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Success, Wisdom, Careers
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

It's just as evil to kill Vietnamese as it is to kill Americans.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Fun, Evil

Never could I advocate nonviolence in this country and not advocate nonviolence for the whole world.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Country, Fun

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

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

Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often have problems with power. There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wisdom, Politics, Moral
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.200, Beacon Press

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