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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

“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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“With all of its false assumptions and evil methods, communism grew as a protest against the hardships of the underprivileged. Communism in theory emphasized a classless society, and a concern for social justice, though the world knows from sad experience that in practice it created new classes and a new lexicon of injustice.”

KnowsWorldWisdomEvilPoliticsSocialJusticeClassPracticeEconomyTheoryGrewConcernMethodSocial JusticeInjusticeCommunismAssumptionLiberalismProtestHardshipUnderprivilegedLexiconFalse AssumptionsNew ClassClassless Society
Book:A Martin Luther King Treasury
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“I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government.... There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark,' but will curse and damn you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children!' There is something wrong with that press.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”

MenWorldNeedsPassionHoursCreativeOur LivesDangerousPlanetsPrideHatredMajorityCirclesSavingSelfishnessMinoritiesNationalismMaterialismOur WorldDedicatedReverenceTransformedConformDoomOur PlanetAdjustmentComplacentAnnihilationFalse GodsPending
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
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“A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.”

MenWorldHumansDoeWarGovernmentMovingSpiritSilencePolicyDemandTasksDifficultyAssumingBetrayalApathySilence IsHuman SpiritBosomsOpposingConformistBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we will not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace”

WorldWarEnoughPeacePathSacrificeNegativeFollowingPeacefulAffirmationPeace WarBeing At PeaceMake Peace Not WarPeaceful WorldPeace Not WarPositive AffirmationsExpulsionLove And WarPeaceful RevolutionWar Love
Book:In a Single Garment of Destiny
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“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. . . . Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, 'Too late.' ... Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.”

WorldLongStillsFactsTodayBeautifulOpportunityLostStruggleWrittenTomorrowCivilizationLateMy FriendsStandingBonesNakedBitterToo LateNew WorldFierceThievesProcrastinationPatheticUrgencyUnfoldingBreaking SilenceConundrumsLost OpportunityDejected
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I feel that when a white child goes to school only with white children, unconsciously that child grows up in many instances devoid of a world perspective. There is an unconscious provincialism, and it can develop into an unconscious superiority complex just as a Negro develops an unconscious inferiority complex.”

WorldFeelsChildrenSchoolGrowsWhiteGrowing UpPerspectiveComplexesInstanceUnconsciousSuperiorityInferiorityInferiority ComplexProvincialismSuperiority Complex
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”

WorldLyingPeaceJusticeDisciplineDiversityCommitmentSecureThought ProvokingBrotherhoodDedicatedSelf DisciplineNonconformityPeace And JusticeUnity In DiversityPeace JusticeNonconformistKings And LoveAmerican JusticeTrailblazersBrotherhood And PeaceDisciplined Life
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
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“Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

WorldLoveWarHateEvilDarkEnemyModernBrokenReactionsChainsAbyssModern WorldComplacencyAnnihilationLove Your EnemiesGood Against EvilLoving Your EnemiesI Hate LoveChain ReactionsImpasse
Book:I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr
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“Be The Peace You Wish To See In The World!”

WorldInspirationalMotivationalWishPeaceChangeInspiringChangedPositiveInspirational LifeParentingLife ChangingChanging The WorldChanging Your LifeMaking ChangesMost InterestingDoing GoodShort LifeChange For The BetterChanging My LifeSatyagrahaWorld EnvironmentInspirational ChangeSmall ChangesTime For A ChangeMaking A Difference In The WorldTimes Have ChangedVery FamousPeople ChangingEmbrace ChangeTime And ChangeCreating ChangeLife Is GreatAll Time FavoriteBusiness ChangeMotivational Life ChangingYou Make A DifferenceChange Is InevitableMind ChangingYou Can't Change PeopleAfraid Of ChangeInevitable ChangeShort Inspirational LifeProcess Of ChangeReally PopularWorld And LifeMy Life Is ChangingLight Of My LifeAction And ChangePower To Change The WorldTimes Are ChangingPowerful Life ChangingWhy ChangeBest ShortShort Motivational LifeChanging RealityMost Well Known
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“In a world facing the revolt of ragged and hungry masses of God's children; in a world torn between the tensions of East and West, white and colored, individuals and collectivists; in a world whose cultural and spiritual power lags so far behind her technological capabilities that we live each day on the verge of nuclear co-annihilation; in this world, nonviolence is no longer an option for intellectual analysis, it is an imperative for action”

WorldChildrenActionSpiritualIndividualWhiteBehindsThis WorldMassIntellectualWestEastNuclearHungryAnalysisTensionEach DayCapabilityNonviolenceTechnologicalTornImperativesRevoltVergeAnnihilationSpiritual PowerRaggedLagEast And WestLive Each Day
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
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“I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of the Vietnamese people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.”

PeopleWorldWarSelfForceNationsPoorMilitaryPositionDeterminationMajorityComplexesConvincedReactionsVietnamRegimesSelf DeterminationUnjustTornWorld HistoryInvolvementAccordVietnameseMilitary Industrial ComplexGenevaUnjust War
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”

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Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“But there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.”

WorldLifeMadeSelfProblemHateIndividualNationsLove IsPathKeysOceanWorshipSolutionsRisingTidesBowsPursuedAltarsLove HateRetaliationWreckageBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race which no one can win to a positive contest to harness man's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all of the nations of the world.”

MenWorldRealityPurposeWinningNationsPeaceRaceCreativityStruggleCreativeArmsGeniusNegativeProsperityPositivityNuclearContestsMaking PeaceDisarmamentPeace WarDynamicsHarnessPeace And JusticePeace JusticeMake Peace Not WarArms RaceCreative GeniusPower StruggleNuclear ArmsWorld PowerNuclear Arms Race
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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“Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism... We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”

WorldSometimesFactsTodaySpiritLyingAbilityPovertyHeroTomorrowEternalRacismMy FriendsRevolutionaryHeroicFierceHostileHostilityUrgencyDeclaringMilitarismBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around...But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: 'We want to be free.'”

PeopleKnowsWorldWantEnoughTodayNationsStarsDarkCitiesLibertyTroubleLandCenturyCryNew YorkPeriodsMassHappeningsSickSouthTyrannyConfusionRisingOur WorldNew York CitySouth AfricaTwentieth CenturyGeorgiaMississippiKenyaAtlantaTennesseeMemphisRising UpGhanaJohannesburgNairobiAtlanta GeorgiaJackson Mississippi
Author: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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