I think one can live in American society with a certain cultural heritage, whether it's an African heritage or other, European,what have you, and still absorb a great deal of this culture. There is always cultural assimilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.
Martin Luther King, Jr.In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The only time people do not like praise is when too much of it is going toward someone else.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
Martin Luther King, Jr.It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I decide on the basis of conscience. A genuine leader doesn't reflect consensus, he molds consensus.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems.
Martin Luther King, Jr.This faith transforms the whirlwind of despair into a warm and reviving breeze of hope. The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts: Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The Negro who experiences bitter and agonizing circumstances as a result of some ungodly white person is tempted to look upon all white persons as evil, if he fails to look beyond his circumstances. But the minute he looks beyond his circumstances and sees the whole of the situation, he discovers that some of the most implacable and vehement advocates of racial equality are consecrated white persons.
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil.
Martin Luther King, Jr.My uncertainty disappeared. Segregation is evil, and I cannot, as a minister, condone evil.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it's what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them.
Martin Luther King, Jr.O America, how you've taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Too often an institution serves to bless the majority opinion. Today when too many move to the rhythmic beat of the status quo, whoever would be a Christian must be a nonconformist.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.You can’t reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends
Martin Luther King, Jr.I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Make your way to death row and speak with the tragic victims of criminality. As they prepare to make their pathetic walk to the electric chair, their hopeless cry is that society will not forgive. Capital punishment is society's final assertion that it will not forgive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.So when Jesus says "Love your enemies," he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition.
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.When we rise in the morning... at the table we drink coffee which is provided to us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African; before we leave for our jobs we are already beholden to more than half the world.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The government can't make people love me, but it can keep them from lynching me.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Slaves do not always welcome their deliverers. They become accustomed to being slaves. They would rather gear those ills they have
Martin Luther King, Jr.War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind... Any scourge is preferable to it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
Martin Luther King, Jr.It is not only poverty that torments the Negro; it is the fact of poverty amid plenty. It is a misery generated by the gulf between the affluence he sees in the mass media and the deprivation he experiences in his everyday life.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The spirit of Lincoln still lives; that spirit born of the teachings of the Nazarene, who promised mercy to the merciful, who lifted the lowly, strengthened the weak, ate with publicans, and made the captives free. In the light of this divine example, the doctrines of demagogues shiver in their chaff.
Martin Luther King, Jr.