Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes
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Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
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Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.
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We live in a world of guided missiles and misguided men.
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Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.
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You see, my friends...you begin to ask the questions, 'Who owns the oil?' You begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?'
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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.
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[E]very human life is a reflection of divinity, and... every act of injustice mars and defaces the image of God in man.
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I don't think you can be in public life without being called bad names.
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In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law . . That would lead to anarchy.
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This is the unusual thing about nonviolence -- nobody is defeated, everybody shares in the victory.
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To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.
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The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
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They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.
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I would suffer all the humiliation, all the torture, the absolute ostracism and even death, to prevent violence.
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We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to go through a process of self-purification.
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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 refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him.
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One of these days I'm going to put my body where my mind is.
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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.
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Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.
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Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Our hope for creative living lies in our ability to reestablish the spiritual needs of our lives in personal character and social justice. Without this spiritual and moral reawakening we shall destroy ourselves in the misuse of our own instruments.
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Love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they'll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That's love, you see. It is redemptive.
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We must see the great distinction between a reform movement and a revolutionary movement. We are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society . . . . What America must be told today is that she must be born again. The whole structure of American life must be changed.
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History will have to record That the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition Was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people But the appalling silence and indifference of the good. Our generation will have to repent not Only for the words and actions of the children of darkness But also for the fears and apathy of thechildren of light.