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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Be an artist at whatever you do. Even if you are a street sweeper, be the Michelangelo of street sweepers.
Martin Luther King, Jr.It is our experience that the nation doesn't move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
Martin Luther King, Jr.A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift, is approaching spiritual death.I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor.
Martin Luther King, Jr.