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

Martin Luther King, Jr. Books

Civil rights activist

Strength to Love

A source page for quotes linked to Martin Luther King, Jr..

0 quotes

Why We Can't Wait

A source page for quotes linked to Martin Luther King, Jr..

0 quotes

The Radical King

A source page for quotes linked to Martin Luther King, Jr..

0 quotes

MLK on

A source page for quotes linked to Martin Luther King, Jr..

0 quotes

Thou, Dear God

A source page for quotes linked to Martin Luther King, Jr..

0 quotes

Related Quotes

“It is impossible even to begin the act of loving one's enemies without the prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us. Second, we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves. ... This simply means that there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. ... The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

PeaceNonviolence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“It was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience. it was an army that would move but not maul. It was an army that would sing but not slay. It was an army that would flank but not falter. It was an army to storm bastions of hatred, to lay siege to the fortresses of segregation, to surround symbols of discrimination. It was an army whose allegiance was to God and whose strategy and intelligence were the eloquently simple dictates of conscience. Why We Can't Wait 1963”

IntegrityConscienceActivismNon ViolenceCivil Action
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. [...] Every now and then I ask myself, 'What is it that I would want said?' I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.”

ThinkingWantGivingSaidAsksMy OwnKingsServingFuneralNow And ThenLutherServing Others
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.”

IfsThinkingHumansMoralClassDemocracyMiddleMouthsIntelligentContemporaryTendenciesHuman LifeAbundanceOur SocietyConsumerismDistributionClingingScarcityOverconsumptionBreadthDegradingUpper ClassGags
Book:All Labor Has Dignity
Create image

“We have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. Our minimal expectation is to occupy it as an American colony and maintain social stability for our investments. This tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and Peru. Increasingly the role our nation has taken is the role of those who refuse to give up the privileges and pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.”

GivingAmericaUsedNationsSocialPleasureRolesTakenGiving UpExpectationsIntentionInvestmentPrivilegeProfitRefuseStabilityVietnamImmenseHonorableColonyColombiaHelicoptersPeruGuerrillas
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Nonviolence is a powerful as well as a just weapon. If you confront a man who has long been cruelly misusing you, and say, "Punish me, if you will; I do not deserve it, but I will accept it, so that the world will know I am right and you are wrong," then you wield a powerful and a just weapon. This man, your oppressor, is automatically morally defeated, and if he has any conscience, he is ashamed.”

IfsKnowsMenWorldWellsLongPowerfulAcceptingWeaponsConscienceDeserveAshamedNonviolenceDefeatedOppressors
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“What the Negro wants - and will not stop until he gets - is absolute and unqualified freedom and equality here in this land of his birth, and not in Africa or in some imaginary state. The Negro no longer will be tolerant of anything less than his due right and heritage. He is pursuing only that which he knows is honorably his. He knows that he is right.”

KnowsWantStatesLandBirthAbsolutesDuesHeritageImaginaryUnqualifiedFreedom And Equality
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Segregation, as even the segregationists know in their hearts, is morally wrong and sinful. If it weren't, the white South would not be haunted as it is by a deep sense of guilt for what it has done to the Negro - guilt for patronizing him, degrading him, brutalizing him, depersonalizing him, thingifying him; guilt for lying to itself. This is the source of the schizophrenia that the South will suffer until it goes through its crisis of conscience.”

IfsKnowsHeartDoneLyingSufferingWhiteSourceConscienceCrisisGuiltSouthSegregationSchizophreniaDegradingPatronizing
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“White Americans must be made to understand the basic motives underlying Negro demonstrations. Many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations are boiling inside the Negro, and he must release them. It is not a threat but a fact of history that if an oppressed people's pent-up emotions are not nonviolently released, they will be violently released.”

PeopleIfsMadeFactsWhiteEmotionThreatReleaseMotiveFrustrationResentmentOppressedDemonstrationLatentBoiling
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Let the Negro march. Let him make pilgrimages to city hall. Let him go on freedom rides. And above all, make an effort to understand why he must do this. For if his frustration and despair are allowed to continue piling up, millions of Negroes will seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies. And this, inevitably, would lead to a frightening racial nightmare.”

IfsBlackEffortCitiesMillionsSecurityGoes OnDespairIdeologyFrustrationNightmareMarchHallsFrighteningSolacePilgrimageLet Him GoCity Hall
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“We must dispel the negative and harmful atmosphere that has been created by avaricious and unprincipled realtors who engage in "blockbusting." If we had in America really serious efforts to break down discrimination in housing, and at the same time a concerted program of government aid to improve housing for Negroes, I think that many white people would be surprised at how many Negroes would choose to live among themselves, exactly as Poles and Jews and other ethnic groups do.”

PeopleIfsThinkingHas BeensGovernmentWould BeAmericaWhiteEffortBreakGroupsSeriousNegativeProgramJewAidsDiscriminationAtmosphereBreaking DownHousingEthnic GroupsRealtorsGovernment Aid
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”

YearsLastsAmericaHumanityLanguageJusticeWhitePoorPromiseMetsConcernedTonightTwelveFifteenTranquilityStatus QuoRiotFifteen YearsUnheardPlight
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.”

MeanDoeHas BeensDoneEvilCreatingForgivenessRemainsLabelsAtmosphereBarriersNew BeginningsCatalystFresh StartLoving Your Enemies
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
Create image

“The great military leaders of the past have gone, their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing.”

StillsPastJesusLove IsLeaderGoneGrowingMilitaryBuiltFoundationEmpiresBurnedAshesGreat MilitaryMilitary LeaderFoundation Of Love
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
Create image

“I feel that non-violence is really the only way that we can follow because violence is just so self-defeating. A riot ends up creating many more problems for the negro community than it solved. We can through violence burn down a building, but you can't establish justice. You can murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder through violence. You can murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. And what we're trying to get rid of is hate, injustice, and all of these other things that continue the long night of man's inhumanity to man.”

MenWayFeelsTryingLongEndsSelfProblemNightHateCommunityJusticeViolenceBuildingCreatingMurderInjusticeMurdererRiotNon ViolenceInhumanityLong NightsInhumanity To Man
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“We come humbly to say to the men in the forefront of our government that the civil rights issue is not an Ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked about by reactionary guardians of the status quo; it is rather an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our nation in the ideological struggle with communism. The hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now, before it is too late.”

MenWellsMayGovernmentNationsHoursMoralDestinyStruggleIssuesRightsHe ManEternalLateDetermineCivil RightsCommunismClockToo LateStatus QuoGuardianIdeologicalEphemeralReactionariesMoral Issues
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.”

FeelsEnoughWould BeIndividualLanguageCausesAttentionConditionsViolentAlternativesTonightOur SocietyRebellionRiotIrresponsibleUnheardCondemning
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, to block the trade monopolies of nobles, but like most human systems it falls victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.”

KnowsGivingHumansTodayFallClassImagineEconomicTheoryMassCapitalismVictimTradeNobleBlockLuxuryMeritMotiveRelativeMonopolyUsefulnessEconomic Theory
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.”

ThinkingMenWayMindHumansLittlesReasonFactsUseActionCausesSinSawsHuman NatureOptimismInstrumentsLiberalismTragicJustifySuperficialInclinationOur ActionsWay Of ThinkingDistortionRationalizePurifying
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Create image