Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.
Martin Luther King, Jr.When any society says that I cannot marry a certain person, that society has cut off a segment of my freedom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force is the most potent instrument available in mankind's quest for peace and security.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Resistance and nonviolence are not in themselves good. There is another element that must be present in our struggle that then makes our resistance and nonviolence truly meaningful. That element is reconciliation. Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I would urge you to give priority to the search for God. Allow his spirit to permeate your being. ... If you do not have a deep and patient faith in God, you will be powerless to face the delays, disappointments, and vicissitudes that inevitably come.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Just as it is the duty of all men to obey just laws, so it is the duty of all men to disobey unjust laws.
Martin Luther King, Jr.There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen whether he be a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid or day laborer
Martin Luther King, Jr.I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Returning hate, adding deeper darkness to a night that is already void of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I was in the kitchen drinking coffee when I heard Coretta cry, "Martin, Martin, come quickly!" I put down my cup and ran toward the living room. As I approached the front window Coretta pointed joyfully to a slowly moving bus: "Darling, it's empty!
Martin Luther King, Jr.I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we will not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace
Martin Luther King, Jr.A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live. We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.There is a magnificent new militancy within the Negro community all across this nation. And I welcome this as a marvelous development. The Negro of America is saying he's determined to be free and he is militant enough to stand up.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We have a great dream. It started way back in 1776, and God grant that America will be true to her dream.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.
Martin Luther King, Jr.As I like to say to the people in Montgomery: "The tension in this city is not between white people and Negro people. The tension is, at bottom, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Nonviolence is the most potent technique for oppressed people. Unearned suffering is redemptive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Without God, all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrise into the darkest of nights.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Racial segregation must be seen for what it is, and that is an evil system, a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war. In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery.
Martin Luther King, Jr.