Top 1223 Quotes & Sayings by Martin Luther King, Jr. - Page 2

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' And Vanity comes along and asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But Conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?'

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.

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

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

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

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

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.

It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

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.

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

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.

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.

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

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.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

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

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

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

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.

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.

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.

Seeing is not always believing.

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

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.

War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.

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.

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

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

We must use time creatively.

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

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

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.

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

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

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

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

A right delayed is a right denied.

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.

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.

A productive and happy life is not something you find; it is something you make.

It's not the violence of the few that scares me, it's the silence of the many

If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.

It is always the right time to do the right thing.

May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership... Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.

The SILENCE of the good people is more DANGEROUS than the BRUTALITY of the bad people

You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

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.