Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist who until his death, led the civil rights movement in the United States since the mid-1950s by an assassination in 1968.

30. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

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

28. “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

27. “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.

When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

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

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25. “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.”

24. “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the

tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

23. “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

22. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

21. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

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20. “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

19. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

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

17. “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.”

16. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

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

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

13. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

12. “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

11. “An individual has not started living until he

can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

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10. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

9. “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.”

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

7. “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

6. “A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”

5. “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”

4. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

3. “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this

purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”

2. “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

1. “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Check Out A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. at Amazon.com

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