Quotes by
Martin Luther King |
1929-1968 , American leader in the Civil Rights Movement
Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States.
King rose to national prominence as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which promoted nonviolent tactics, such as the massive March on Washington (1963), to achieve civil rights.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
| 34 quotes | 2,579 visits |
Quotations
| • | Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. 15 |
| • | It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. 11 |
| • | 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. 9 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. 8 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. 8 |
| • | We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools. 7 |
| • | We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. 7 |
| • | A riot is the language of the unheard. 7 |
| • | Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. 7 |
| • | In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. 6 |
| • | Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. 6 |
| • | Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. 5 |
| • | Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude. 5 |
| • | We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. 5 |
| • | I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good. 5 |
| • | No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for. 4 |
| • | 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. 4 |
| • | I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law. 4 |
| • | Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. 4 |
| • | Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. 4 |
| • | If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. 4 |
| • | When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative. 4 |
| • | Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better. 4 |
| • | Only in the darkness can you see the stars. 3 |
| • | 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. 3 |
| • | Life's most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” 3 |
| • | A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. 3 |
| • | A right delayed is a right denied. 3 |
| • | If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened. 3 |
| • | We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. 3 |
| • | Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. 3 |
| • | I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. 3 |