The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.

I am not afraid of the word tension.

We must all learn to live together as brothers. Or we will all perish together as foolsFor some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

My study of Gandhi convinced me that true pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolent resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love. . . .

Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love