Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes
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By nonviolent resistance, the Negro can also enlist all men of good will in his struggle for equality.
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No man (sic) has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self-contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still and stale, it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns.
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We must use time creatively.
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We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade.
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Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having their legs off, and then being condemned for being a cripple.
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The time has come for an all-out war against poverty. The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for "the least of these".
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The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
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The spirit of Lincoln still lives; that spirit born of the teachings of the Nazarene, who promised mercy to the merciful, who lifted the lowly, strengthened the weak, ate with publicans, and made the captives free. In the light of this divine example, the doctrines of demagogues shiver in their chaff.
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Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.
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Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody.
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We need to recapture the gospel glow of the early Christians who were nonconformists in the truest sense of the word . . . Their powerful gospel put an end to such barbaric evils as infanticide and bloody gladiatorial contests. Finally, they captured the Roman Empire for Jesus Christ.
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It is purposeless to tell Negroes they should not be enraged when they should be. Indeed, they will be mentally healthier if they do not suppress rage, but vent it constructively and use its energy peacefully but forcefully to cripple the operations of an oppressive society. Civil disobedience can utilize the militance wasted in riots to seize clothes or groceries many do not even want.
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Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
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When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
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I guess one of the great agonies of life is that we are constantly trying to finish that which is unfinishable.
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Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against.
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You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
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Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.
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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.
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I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism.
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Ten cures for depression are to go out and do something for someone else and repeat it nine times.
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A good many observers have remarked that if equality could come at once, the Negro would not be ready for it. I submit that the white American is even more unprepared.
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The idea of a superior or inferior race is a myth that has been completely refuted by anthropological evidence.
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Through nonviolent resistance the Negro will be able to rise to the noble height of opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.