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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

“If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, "There lived a great people-a black people-who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.”

PeopleIfsBookChristianBlackWrittenGenerationsCivilizationDignityPatriotismProtestHistorianBlack PeoplePausesVeinsFuture GenerationGreat PeopleHistory BooksChristian Love
Book:I have a dream: the life and words of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”

IfsStillsHelpingDreamTodayMovingHopeLosesInspiringQualityCourageGoes OnMoving OnYour DreamsSpiteFollow Your DreamsVitalityKeep MovingHave CourageHaving HopeChase Your DreamsHopes And DreamsHoping For The BestI Had A DreamHope And FaithDreams You HaveGreat HopeFollowing DreamsFollowing My DreamsNever Lose HopeLiving The DreamHopes DreamsLost HopeLosing HopeNever Stop DreamingHope Courage
Book:The Trumpet of Conscience
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“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.”

IfsWantMatterJusticeBehindsFineMajorsCommittedRighteousnessShallowLuxuriousDrum Major
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

IfsKnowsMenFirstsStillsHelpingHappensOrderFeltEasyHurtActingPriestsLureRobbersSeizuresSamaritans
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”

IfsKnowsMayHelpingValuesGrowsViewsCompassionEnemyConditionsBrotherWeaknessProfitPoint Of ViewOppositionMatureNonviolenceAssessmentTrue MeaningBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The time has come for an all-out war against poverty. The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for "the least of these".”

IfsDoeWarUseSchoolIndividualNationsWealthPovertyRichResourcesConcernCompassionateGreat Nations
Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
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“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.”

IfsInspirationalLongWarNightPeaceInspiringStruggleViolenceGenerationsChaosEndlessTemptationChiefsLegacyBitternessMeaninglessAntiwarReignUnbornUbuntuPeace And JusticeDesolatePeace JusticeLate NightGeneration GapLoving Your EnemiesMedia Violence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I think that my strong determination for justice comes from the very strong, dynamic personality of my father ... I have rarely ever met a person more fearless and courageous than my father ... The thing that I admire most about my dad is his genuine Christian character. He is a man of real integrity, deeply committed to moral and ethical principles. He is conscientious in all of his undertakings ... If I had a problem I could always call Daddy.”

IfsThinkingMenPersonsRealCharacterProblemChristianFatherStrongJusticeMoralPrinciplesPersonalityDadIntegrityMetsDeterminationMy DadCommittedGenuineAdmireFearlessCourageousEthicalVery StrongDaddyUndertakingsFathers DayEthical PrinciplesStrong DeterminationChristian CharacterDynamic Personality
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.”

IfsThinkingKnowsLoveDoeRealityBeautifulMovingHateCompassionDoorsKeysHighestDecidedUltimateSeekingBeautiful ThingsKnowing GodGod Is LoveUltimate Reality
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“By opening our lives to God in Christ, we become new creatures. This experience, which Jesus spoke of as the new birth, is essential if we are to be transformed nonconformists . . . Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.”

IfsWorldChristianSpiritualSpiritFightingEvilJesusChristOur LivesBirthCreaturesEssentialsGainsTransformationHumbleOpeningSpokesTransformedSpiritual Transformation
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
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“We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”

IfsWorldWayLongWarMightActionPastMovingSpeakPeaceJusticeDarkCompassionDoorsMoralitySightDevelopingBordersVietnamNew WaysReservedShamefulIndecisionCorridorsBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy even if I just got a good checkup at Mayo Clinic. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.”

PeopleIfsWorldWayInspirationalYearsLongMadeI CanIndividualNationsPovertyMillionsRichThis WorldOughtHealthyDiseaseTwentiesIndependentDollarsEightBillionsAfrican AmericanThirtyOur WorldStanding OutBoastThirty YearsInterdependenceClinic
Book:The Measure of a Man
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“There are some things concerning which we must always be maladjusted if we are to be people of good will. We must never adjust ourselves to racial segregation. We must never adjust ourselves to religious bigotry. We must never adjust ourselves to economic conditions that take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few.”

PeopleIfsGivingReligiousEconomicConditionsLuxuryBigotrySegregationGood WillReligious BigotryRacial Segregation
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

IfsDoeStatesSpiritualSocialChurchMoralMastersAuthorityConscienceToolsCriticsClubsGuidesServantIrrelevantZealProphetic
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If todayI lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.”

IfsShouldCountryChristianLawCertainForgetPrinciplesBrotherComfortDearJewAidsFighterRadicalGermanyIllegalNever ForgetCommunistChristian FaithFreedom FighterHungaryHungariansDisobeying
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“There is no easy way to create a world where men and women can live together... But if such a world is created in our lifetime, it will be done by rejecting the racism, materialism, and violence that has characterized Western civilization and especially by working toward a world of brotherhood, cooperation, and peace.”

IfsMenWorldWayDoneTogetherEasyViolenceCivilizationRacismMen And WomenLifetimeWesternMaterialismCooperationBrotherhoodWestern CivilizationRejectingEasy Way
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“I choose to identify with the underprivileged, I choose to give my life for the hungry, I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity . . . this is the way I'm going. If it means suffering, I'm going that way. If it means dying for them, I'm going that way, because I heard a voice saying DO SOMETHING FOR OTHERS.”

IfsWayGivingMeanHas BeensSufferingOpportunityLeftVoiceHeardDyingHungrySunlightLeft OutUnderprivileged
Book:The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia, Africa, or South America. Is this not why nations engage in the madness of war without the slightest sense of penitence? Is this not why the murder of a citizen of your own nation is a crime, but the murder of citizens of another nation in war is an act of heroic virtue?”

IfsWarAmericaNationsVirtueCrimeCitizensConcernedMadnessMurderSouthHeroicAsiaSouth AmericaPenitence
Book:Strength to Love
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