Quotessence
Home / Authors / Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

Civil rights activist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenInspirationalIfsWorldPeopleJusticeHateViolenceEvilNations

Famous Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

“I could never adjust to the separate waiting rooms, separate eating places, separate rest rooms, partly because the separate was always unequal, and partly because the very idea of separation did something to my sense of dignity and self-respect.”

IdeasSelfWaitingRoomsEatingDignitySeparationSelf RespectWaiting RoomsSelf Respect And Dignity
Book:I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr
Create image

“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.”

PeopleUseHateUnderstandingRealizingCompassionTaughtWeaponsLowsResponsibleDawnMidnightThreshold
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community. A boycott is never an end within itself. It is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor but the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption.”

MeanEndsCommunityViolenceCreationShameRedemptionBelovedBitternessNonviolenceReconciliationOppressorsAftermathBoycottBeloved Community
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Create image

“In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'”

PeopleMenWellsWould BeAmericaFallPoliticsGivenNationsBlackWhiteLibertyRightsPromiseConstitutionIndependenceNotesPursuitChecksFundRepublicArchitectCashMagnificentDeclarationWhite ManPursuit Of HappinessDeclaration Of IndependenceSigningHeirsInsufficientI Have A Dream SpeechUnalienable RightsLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.”

MenMomentsChallengesRiskDangerousPositionBrotherHigherComfortUltimateNobleNeighborLiftsWelfareValleysBeatenControversyConveniencePathwaysPrestigeBruisedMeasure Of A ManTrue Measure Of A Man
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together– black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu– a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.”

WorldIdeasProblemTogetherCultureHousePoliticsBlackInterestWhiteMankindCatholicJewBlack And WhiteProtestantsWesternersGentiles
Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
Create image

“Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks, before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman empire.”

KindChristianPainFacesLawCertainCoursesMoralWillingHigherInvolvedInjusticeHungryBlockEmpiresLionsUnjustRefusalDisobedienceRoman EmpireCivil DisobedienceNothing NewMoral LawChoppingUnjust LawsExcruciating PainHungry Lion
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Create image

“The spirit of Lincoln still lives; that spirit born of the teachings of the Nazarene, who promised mercy to the merciful, who lifted the lowly, strengthened the weak, ate with publicans, and made the captives free. In the light of this divine example, the doctrines of demagogues shiver in their chaff.”

LifeMadeStillsDreamLightSpiritBornTeachingExampleDivineWeakMercyDoctrineDivinityAmerican DreamMercifulCaptivesShiverStill LifeNazarene
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live - men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization - because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.”

PeopleKnowsMenYearsChildrenLightAgePastSufferingNamesLandTaughtWillingCivilizationTruth IsMen And WomenSakeHumbleFocusedNobleRighteousnessMarvelousHeadlinesChild Of GodBlazing
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Create image

“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.”

WayLoveWinningPeaceUnderstandingJusticeViolenceAchieveDestructionHatredOpponentsThriveImmoralSpiralsPeace And JusticePeace JusticeDescendingHumiliateRacial JusticeAchieving PeaceJustice And Love
Book:The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr
Create image

“Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin.”

PeopleLooksCharacterDreamKidsRightsColorJudgingKingsSpeechRacismSkinsEqualityDiscriminationAfrican AmericanJudgedAmerican DreamDiverseAmerican HistoryCivil Rights MovementStrength Of CharacterI Had A DreamMulticulturalUnity In DiversityOregonSkin ColorBeing EqualHappy ChildrenIntegrity And CharacterIntegrity CharacterEquality Of PeopleEquality For AllI Have A Dream SpeechKings SpeechKings And LoveBeing JudgedGood KingsSocial EqualityPeaceful ProtestInspirational CharacterSlave OwnersAmerican CharacterInjustice And OppressionInspirational DiversityBlack SkinRacism And PrejudiceAfrican American Civil RightsJudge Of CharacterGreat ConservativeBrown SkinMarch On WashingtonRace And ColorDeep DisappointmentTrue EqualityAfrican RacePreschool Children
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It destroys communities and makes humanity impossible. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers... In winning our freedom, we will so appeal to you heart and conscience that we will win you in the process.”

HeartEyeLawHumanityWinningProcessCommunityImpossibleConscienceBlindGenerosityAppealsBitternessSurvivorBrutalityDestroyersEye For An EyeWe Will Win
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life that regulates not only my dealings in the struggle for racial justice, but also my dealings with people, and with my own self.”

PeopleSelfPhilosophyFoundPeaceJusticeMy OwnStrugglePlansLife PhilosophyNonviolenceUbuntuDealingsPeace JusticeRacial JusticeDealing With People
Book:Search for the beloved community: the thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr
Create image

“Truth is not to be found either in traditional capitalism or in Marxism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically, capitalism failed to discern the truth in collective enterprise and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise.”

PoliticalFoundIndividualTruth IsCapitalismTraditionalEnterpriseCollectivesMarxismPartial Truth
Book:Search for the beloved community: the thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr
Create image

“One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

KnowsWellsChildrenWholeDreamRealityChristianValuesFatherNationsDemocracyOne DayStandingConstitutionIndependenceSacredSouthSatLunchHeritageAmerican DreamDeclarationFoundingChild Of GodDeclaration Of IndependenceChristian Heritage
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“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.”

MenLosesSituationCourageUncertaintyCourageousFloodOverwhelmedCowardlyZestWill To LiveDykesCourageous ManUncertainty Of Life
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
Create image

“I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world.”

WorldHeartWarCountryAmericaPoliticalDesireSpeakMoralExampleMy HeartSorrowAnxietyPassionateBelovedVietnamSpeaks OutKings And LoveBeloved CountryPassionate Desire
Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
Create image

“The 'tide in the affairs of men' does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: 'Too late...'”

MenMayDoeWrittenCryCivilizationLateClimateAffairBonesToo LatePassagesTidesFloodPausesDeafPatheticBreaking Silence
Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
Create image