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Martin Luther King, Jr.

64 quotes

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible leader of the Civil Rights Movement. His philosophy of nonviolent resistance and his extraordinary gift for oratory — exemplified by his "I Have a Dream" speech — changed the course of American history and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Men

All Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Money

“We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Equality

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Society

“The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Equality

“One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Great

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

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life

“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Good

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

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Learning

“Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sympathy

“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?'”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Good

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Great

“The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Art

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Respect

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forgiveness

“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.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Society

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Time