Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes
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When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind.
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Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others? Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.
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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.
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Slavery in America was perpetuated not merely by human badness but also by human blindness. ... Men convinced themselves that a system that was so economically profitable must be morally justifiable. ... Science was commandeered to prove the biological inferiority of the Negro. Even philosophical logic was manipulated [exemplified by] an Aristotlian syllogism: All men are made in the image of God; God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro; Therefore, the Negro is not a man.
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You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream.
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Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.
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Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
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Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.
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For you all think God is one who rewards good and punishes evil, but I say to you that God is one who loves you and has compassion for everyone. You just have to pray to Him and believe in Him. He will always be your guiding light.
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Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . .
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We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
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You can’t reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.
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If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
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The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.
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I never cease to wonder at the amazing presumption of much of white society, assuming that they have the right to bargain with the Negro for his freedom.
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In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…. We demand this fraud be stopped.
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There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen whether he be a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid or day laborer.
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We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
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We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.
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Friends are forever Boys are whatever.
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If the Negro is to achieve the goal of integration, he must organize himself into a militant and nonviolent mass movement.
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Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice.
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What affects one in a major way, affects all in a minor way.
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A man who hasn't found anything he'd die for doesn't deserve to live.