Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are.
Martin Luther King, Jr.There is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.
Martin Luther King, Jr.True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
Martin Luther King, Jr.And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I would be misleading you if I made you feel that we could win a violent campaign. It's impractical even to think about it. The minute we start, we will end up getting many more people killed unnecessarily. Now, I'm ready to die myself. Many other committed people are ready to die. If you believe in something firmly, if you believe in it truly, if you believe it in your heart, you are willing to die for it, but I'm not going to advocate a method that brings about unnecessary death.
Martin Luther King, Jr.You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The movement for equality and justice can only be a success if it has both a mass and militant character; the barriers to be overcome require both.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Make no mistake about those who call themselves anti Zionist are anti Semitic.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If we are going to achieve a real equality, the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of Socialism.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Nonviolent action, the Negro saw, was the way to supplement, not replace, the progress of change. It was the way to divest himself of passivity without arraying himself in vindictive force.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The belief that God will do everything for man is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself. It, too, is based on a lack of faith. We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I'm thinking of love in action and not something where you say, "Love your enemies," and just leave it at that, but you love your enemies to the point that you're willing to sit-in at a lunch counter in order to help them find themselves. You're willing to go to jail.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children.
Martin Luther King, Jr.A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Three simple words can describe the nature of the social revolution that is talking place and what Negroes really want. They are the words "all," "now," and "here."
Martin Luther King, Jr.Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclomations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.
Martin Luther King, Jr.A religion true to its nature must also be concerned about man's social conditions....A ny religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion.
Martin Luther King, Jr.History will have to recordThat the greatest tragedy of this period of social transitionWas not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad peopleBut the appalling silence and indifference of the good.Our generation will have to repent notOnly for the words and actions of the children of darknessBut also for the fears and apathy of thechildren of light.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled.
Martin Luther King, Jr.This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Martin Luther King, Jr.By nonviolent resistance, the Negro can also enlist all men of good will in his struggle for equality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Personalism's insistence that only personality-finite and infinite-is ultimately real strengthened me in two convictions: it gave me metaphysical and philosophical grounding for the idea of a personal God, and it gave me a metaphysical basis for the dignity and worth of all human personality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The use of violence in our struggle would be both impractical and immoral. To meet hate with retaliatory hate would do nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love; we must meet physical force with soul force. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."
Martin Luther King, Jr.The real problem is that through our scientific genius we’ve made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we’ve failed to make of it a brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.
Martin Luther King, Jr.We can dream of an America, and a world, in which love and not money are civilization's bottom line.
Martin Luther King, Jr.A man does not measure its height in moments of comfort, but in terms of change and controversy
Martin Luther King, Jr.Don't ever let anyone pull you so low as to hate them. We must use the weapon of love. We must have the compassion and understanding for those who hate us. We must realize so many people are taught to hate us that they are not totally responsible for their hate. But we stand in life at midnight; we are always on the threshold of a new dawn.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential. Social action without education is a weak expression of pure energy. Deeds uninformed by educated thought can take false directions. When we go into action and confront our adversaries, we must be as armed with knowledge as they. Our policies should have the strength of deep analysis beneath them to be able to challenge the clever sophistries of our opponents.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.
Martin Luther King, Jr.I have condemned any organizer of war, regardless of his rank or nationality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.School takes 13 years, because that is how long it takes to break a child's spirit.
Martin Luther King, Jr.The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!
Martin Luther King, Jr.