We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Power is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice is love correcting everything that goes against love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community. A boycott is never an end within itself. It is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor but the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption.
Martin Luther King, Jr.In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr.In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist. You are in a real way depriving him of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, denying in his case the very creed of his society.
Martin Luther King, Jr.