Martin Luther King Jr.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo 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 and say, "Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
Martin Luther King Jr. - A Christmas Sermon for Peace on Dec 24, 1967
I?ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say:?We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you.... But be assured that we?ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

A man who won?t die for something is not fit to live.

I submit that 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.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

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

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values -- that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Strength to Love, 1963
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.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

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

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Strength to Love, 1963
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Accepting Nobel Peace Prize, Dec. 10, 1964
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Speech at St. Louis, March 22, 1964
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Strength to Love, 1963
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King Jr. - The Christmas Sermon On Peace in on Dec 24, 1967
Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force... If we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has the right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.

Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King Jr. - "Strength to Love"
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr. - December 11, 1964
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King Jr. - "Strength to Love"
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
Martin Luther King Jr. - December 11, 1964
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

We have flown the air like birds and swum the seas like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.
Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 1963
The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

- Martin Luther King Jr.