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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

“When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also declare that the white man does not abide by law in the ghettos. Day in and day out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions of civil services. The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them, but they do not make them, any more than a prisoner makes a prison.”

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Book:The Trumpet of Conscience
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“[Malcolm X] had said a great deal about nonviolence, criticizing nonviolence, and saying that I approved of Negro men and women being bitten by dogs and the fire hoses, and I say, say go on and not defend yourself. I think this kind of response grew out of the build up, all of the talk about my being a sort of polished Uncle Tom.”

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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 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.”

MenLifeInspirationalMomentsWisdomMotivationalPeaceWomenChallengesLeadershipInspiringLeaderKingsComfortDeterminationStandingUltimateAdversityActivismRecoveryCivil RightsAfrican AmericanPatrioticActivistGraduationBad AssControversyTough TimesConvenienceBad DayGreat LeaderBaptistsDrug AddictionDrug AddictOvercoming ChallengesWorld LeaderRecoveringBeing A LeaderLeadership By Famous LeadersBest LeaderMotivational LeadershipAddiction RecoveryPeace Not WarChallenge YourselfWhere You Are GoingOutstanding LeadershipIntegrity And CharacterTimes Of AdversityIntegrity CharacterMeasure Of A ManKings SpeechBorn LeadersDrug Addiction RecoveryKings And LoveGood KingsOutstanding LeadersWhen Life Is HardInspirational Addiction RecoveryObstacles And ChallengesInspirational RecoveryDrug RecoveryMotivational RecoveryInspirational Drug RecoveryLeadership And ServiceCivil Rights LeadersLeadership StyleMost EncouragingDaily ChallengesTrue Measure Of A ManUltimate Motivational
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

MenLightChoicesDecisionWalksCreativityDarknessCreativeGreatnessWords Of WisdomWalkingIntegrityCreatingDestructionCharitySelfishEvery ManAfrican AmericanGenerositySelfishnessDestructivePhilanthropyAltruismBe CreativeLight And DarknessBenevolenceEgoismPhilanthropicLight And DarkGive And TakeDarkness To LightGenerosity And KindnessKindness GenerositySelfish PeopleMan Of IntegrityKings And LoveDestructivenessGood KingsDeeds DoneSelfish MenCharity And GenerositySpiritual Darkness
Book:Strength to Love
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“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

MenLoveHumansPeaceViolenceKingsConflictMethodFoundationRevengeCivil RightsAfrican AmericanEvolveRejectsResolutionNonviolenceAggressionSelf DisciplineCivil Rights MovementBaptistsNon ViolenceCriminal MindDisarmamentPeace WarPeace And JusticePeace And LoveConflict ResolutionBeing At PeaceMediationPeace JusticeRetaliationHuman LoveNon ViolentBest RevengeInner ConflictExacting RevengeNobel Peace PrizeHuman CapacityKings SpeechViolence And PeaceKings And LoveCivil Right MovementRevenge Is SweetFoundation Of Love
Book:The Essential 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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“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.”

MenMeanWarSpiritHatePeaceFreedomViolenceRefuseRedemptionInternalsThought ProvokingNonviolenceAvoidingNon ViolencePeace And JusticePeace JusticeHate HimViolence And PeaceAvoiding PainPhysical Violence
Book:I Have a Dream: The Quotations 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.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

MenNeedsHumansPoliticalPeaceAnswersMoralViolenceConflictOvercomingMethodFoundationRevengeOppressionEvolveOur TimeRejectsCrucialNonviolenceAggressionNon ViolenceBeing At PeaceRetaliationViolence And PeacePolitical ViolenceFoundation Of Love
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. "A Time to Break Silence," at Riverside Church”

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Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
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“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”

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Book:Strength to Love
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“And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.”

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Book:The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different.”

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Book:I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters.”

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Author: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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“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be... This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

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Book:Strength to Love
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“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”

MenNeedsMindKindHelpingIndividualFeltUnderstandingDarkHalfCreativeRacismPrejudiceDepthMythObjectivesAnalysisHeightRealmsTensionBrotherhoodBondageMajesticHalf TruthAppraisalGadfliesCreative Tension
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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