Martin Luther Jr. King (1929-1968)

Quotes

• It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.

• Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

• True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to an evil power...it is rather a courageous confrontation with evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.

• There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

• Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore Gandhi at our own risk.

• There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.

• Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

• We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

• Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.

• Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions.

• Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

• Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

• We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.

• Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

• True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

• It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

• Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude.

• We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

• Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.