Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words: [View All]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words:
  
 
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.

- Martin Luther King Jr.    

I said to my children, "I'm going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don't ever want you to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.'

- Martin Luther King Jr., 1.7.68    

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter From Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63    

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

- Martin Luther King Jr., "The Trumpet of Conscience", 1967    

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

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution ", 3.31.68    

Whatever career you may choose for yourself -- doctor, lawyer, teacher -- let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of your life. It will make you a better doctor, a better lawyer, a better teacher. It will enrich your spirit as nothing else possibly can. It will give you that rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man . Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human 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., 4.18.59    

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

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963    

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

- Martin Luther King Jr., "The Trumpet of Conscience", 1967    

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

- Martin Luther King Jr., quoting Martin Luther   

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

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter From
Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63    

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

- Martin Luther King Jr., 6.23.63    

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.

- Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech , 12.10.64    

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., "Justice Without Violence", 4.3.57    

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., Wall Street Journal, 11.13.62    

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963    

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.

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963    

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

- Martin Luther King Jr., "I've Been to the Mountain Top ", 4.3.68    

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., "Strength to Love", 1963    

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

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963     

The time is always right to do what is right.

- Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter From Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63    

People For the American Way proudly brings you the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).