Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Morality

• Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Powerful, Passivity Is, Social Transformation

  Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Peace Prize Speech in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1964.

• Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Cutting, Men

  "Loving Your Enemies". Speech delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

• "I criticize America because I love her. I want her to stand as a moral example to the world."

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  America, Patriotism, Criticism

• Vanity asks, is it popular? Politics ask, will it work? But conscience and morality ask, is it right?

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Vanity, Morality, Asks

• In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Hate, War

• Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Political, May

  Speech, Nashville, Tenn., 27 Dec. 1962

• The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Reality, Law

  Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church. YouTube Channel "nicholasflyer"/"Martin Luther King Jr. 'Rediscovering Lost Values' February 28, 1954", www.youtube.com. September 24, 2015.

• Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Cutting, Evil

  "Loving Your Enemies". Speech delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

• We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, War, Moving

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

• [nonviolence] seeks to secure moral ends through moral means.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Mean, Morality, Ends

• True compassion is more than throwing a coin to a beggar. It demands of our humanity that if we live in a society that produces beggars, we are morally commanded to restructure that society.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Compassion, Humanity, Coins

• There are always those who say legislation can't solve the problem. There is a half-truth involved here. It is true that legislation cannot solve the whole problem. It can solve some of the problem. It may be true that morality can't be legislated, but behavior can be regulated.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Half, May, Morality

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