Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes
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We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
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It is a tragic mix-up when the United States spends 500,000 for every enemy soldier killed, and only 53 annually on the victims of poverty.
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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.
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Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals.
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We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
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It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.
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I have come to see more and more that one of the most decisive steps that the Negro can take is that little walk to the voting booth. That is an important step. We've got to gain the ballot, and through that gain, political power.
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The strong man is the man who can stand up for his rights and not hit back.
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There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
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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.
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Set yourself earnestly to discover what you are made to do, and then give yourself passionately to the doing of it.
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Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
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Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
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I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism.
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Unity has never meant uniformity.
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Let's build bridges, not walls.
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The movement for equality and justice can only be a success if it has both a mass and militant character; the barriers to be overcome require both.
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The Negro has no room to make any substantial compromises because his store of advantages is too small. He must press unrelentingly for quality, integrated education or his whole drive for freedom will be undermined by the absence of a most vital and indispensable element - learning.
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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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Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
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America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'
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Seeing is not always believing.
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Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
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A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.