Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

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

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

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control

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

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it

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

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

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

True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek

Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'.

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

The moral lag must be redeemed. Human progress is always precarious, and the solution to each problem brings us face to face with another problem

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

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope

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

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

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

No lie can live forever

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

The time is always right to do what is right.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Only in the darkness can you see the stars

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle

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

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

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live

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

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

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus