Top 75 Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

A right delayed is a right denied.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

A lie cannot live.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

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.

The time is always right to do what is right.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.