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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

Civil rights activist

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Famous Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

“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
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“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.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“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.
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“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.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“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.
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“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.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living. If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, brethren! Be careful, teachers!”

IfsGivingEnoughCharacterRememberSocialGoalRaceTeacherGroupsProduceCollegeCarefulWorthyObjectivesConcentrationPlusBroadsBe CarefulImmoralConsumedBrethrenTransmitIllogicalTrue EducationPropagandistClose Minded
Book:The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force If we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has the right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.”

IfsShouldMayHas BeensWarLife IsEvilForceGrowthBornMankindNegativeAssumingSpreadAlternativesWorth LivingObsoletePreventingLife Is Worth Living
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“It is purposeless to tell Negroes they should not be enraged when they should be. Indeed, they will be mentally healthier if they do not suppress rage, but vent it constructively and use its energy peacefully but forcefully to cripple the operations of an oppressive society. Civil disobedience can utilize the militance wasted in riots to seize clothes or groceries many do not even want.”

IfsWantShouldUseEnergyClothesActivismRageOperationsDisobedienceRiotGroceriesCivil DisobedienceCripples
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.”

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Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts, and pray long prayers?”

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Book:Why We Can't Wait
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“Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten....America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness-justice.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Somebody must have sense enough to meet hate with love. Somebody must have sense enough to meet physical force with soul force. If we will but try this way, we will be able to change these conditions and yet at the same time win the hearts and souls of those who have kept these conditions alive a way as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth, as modern as the techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi. There is another way.”

IfsWayTryingHeartSoulEnoughAbleHateJesusWinningForceAliveModernConditionsInsightTechniqueAnother WayHeart And SoulNazarethPhysical ForceSoul Force
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The white poor also suffer deprivation and the humiliation of poverty if not of color. They are chained by the weight of discrimination though its badge of degradation does not mark them. It corrupts their lives, frustrates their opportunities and withers their education. In one sense it is more evil for them because it has confused so many by prejudice that they have supported their own oppressors.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I would be misleading you if I made you feel that we could win a violent campaign. It's impractical even to think about it. The minute we start, we will end up getting many more people killed unnecessarily. Now, I'm ready to die myself. Many other committed people are ready to die. If you believe in something firmly, if you believe in it truly, if you believe it in your heart, you are willing to die for it, but I'm not going to advocate a method that brings about unnecessary death.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The Negro who experiences bitter and agonizing circumstances as a result of some ungodly white person is tempted to look upon all white persons as evil, if he fails to look beyond his circumstances. But the minute he looks beyond his circumstances and sees the whole of the situation, he discovers that some of the most implacable and vehement advocates of racial equality are consecrated white persons.”

IfsLooksPersonsWholeEvilWhiteResultsSituationFailingMinutesCircumstancesBitterLook UpTemptedAgonizingVehementRacial Equality
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“If we get setbacks and if something happens where the Civil Rights Bill is watered down, for instance, if the Negro feels that he can do nothing but move from one ghetto to another and one slum to another, the despair and the disappointment will be so great that it will be very difficult to keep the struggle disciplined and nonviolent.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“It's very easy for one talking about violence and hatred for the white man to appeal to [Negro from ghetto]. I have never thought of this, but I think this is quite true, that if, even if you talk to them about nonviolence from a tactical point of view, they can't quite see it because they don't even know they're outnumbered.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“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?'”

IfsMenFirstsHelpingHappensPeaceLeadershipInspiringCompassionCharityHelping OthersPriestsServingHelping PeopleStarting OverServing OthersPeace And JusticeDeterminismPeace JusticeRhymingInspirational CharityInspirational ServiceHelping Other PeopleGood KingsSamaritans
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”

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Book:The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

IfsMenLifeInspirationalShouldWellsHardWisdomMotivationalEarthJobsSuccessHeavenWorkInspiringPowerfulStreetsMindfulnessExcellenceBest ThingsMemorableHostPausesWork EthicGreat WorkHustleHeaven And EarthMotivational WorkPausingMotivational JobKaizenInspirational Hard WorkWorking So HardSweepersStrive For SuccessStriving For ExcellenceGreat Work EthicEffort And SuccessStriving To Be The Best
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“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.”

IfsInspirationalInspirationMotivationalRunningActionMovingWalksInspiringActingSuccessfulInspirational LifeKingsWalkingCommitmentDeterminationDecidedEntrepreneurPerseveranceFlyingMoving ForwardCivil RightsPersistenceMoving OnHard TimesKeep GoingBlack PeopleDedicationSuccessful PeopleBusiness SuccessPersistWillpowerNot Giving UpKeep MovingKeep Moving ForwardInfluentialLoving LifeBeing StrongSuccessful BusinessWords Of EncouragementCrawlingFamous InspirationalInspirational SuccessSuccessful EntrepreneursDetermination MotivationalBusiness WorldKeep RunningGiving Up Is Not An OptionHappy New Year InspirationalMoving Forward In LifeGreat PerseveranceHaving StrengthEntrepreneur MotivationalI Can Do ThisBusiness InspirationJust Keep MovingKings And LoveGood KingsInspirational Moving OnKeep You MotivatedJust Keep Moving ForwardJust Keep Moving OnInspirational Moving ForwardPower StrengthSuper MotivationalWalking ForwardPurpose Of Business
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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