Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929-1968) US civil rights leader Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-30] of 40 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quotesRev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. QuotesRev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Next 30 quotes A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I firmly believe that the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent resistance is the only logical and moral approach to the solution of the race problem in the United States.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.' ... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I have a dream that one day ... the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust ... is in reality expressing the highest respect for law ... We will not obey your evil laws.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 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.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There comes a time when a moral man can't obey a law which his conscience tells him is unjust.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.”~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is precisely because education is the road to equality and citizenship, that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights. The walling off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status. Therefore, as Negroes have struggled to be free they have had to fight for the opportunity for a decent education.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law ... That would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In our struggle against racial segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, I came to see at a very early stage that a synthesis of Gandhi's method of nonviolence and the Christian ethic of love is the best weapon available to Negroes for this struggle for freedom and human dignity. It may well be that the Gandhian approach will bring about a solution to the race problem in America. His spirit is a continual reminder to oppressed people that it is possible to resist evil and yet not resort to violence.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it... Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 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.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Next 30 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print