Latest Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes from Interviews

• I had a very depressing response because I realized that these were my own people, these were Negroes throwing eggs at me. I'm concerned about the fact that maybe all of us have contributed to this by not working harder to get rid of the conditions, the poverty, the social isolation, and all of the conditions that cause individuals to respond like this.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Depressing, Eggs, People

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• It's very easy for one talking about violence and hatred for the white man to appeal to [Negro from ghetto]. I have never thought of this, but I think this is quite true, that if, even if you talk to them about nonviolence from a tactical point of view, they can't quite see it because they don't even know they're outnumbered.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Ghetto, Men, Thinking

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Many people in Harlem never go out of Harlem. I mean they'd never even been downtown. And you can see how this bitterness can accumulate. Here you see people crowded and hovered up in ghettos and slums with no hope.They see no way out.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Mean, Ghetto, People

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• You are resisting, but you've come to see that tactically as well as morally, it is better to be nonviolent.If one would, didn't want to deal with the moral questions, it would just be impractical for the Negro to talk about making his struggle a violent one.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Want, Moral

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• [People] don't see that there's a great deal of a difference between nonresistance to evil and nonviolent resistance.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Differences, People, Evil

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Certainly I'm not saying that you sit down and patiently accept injustice. I'm talking about a very strong force, where you stand up with all your might against an evil system, and you are not a coward.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Strong, Talking, Evil

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• [Malcolm X] had said a great deal about nonviolence, criticizing nonviolence, and saying that I approved of Negro men and women being bitten by dogs and the fire hoses, and I say, say go on and not defend yourself. I think this kind of response grew out of the build up, all of the talk about my being a sort of polished Uncle Tom.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dog, Uncles, Men

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• We know nothing about Africa, although our roots are there in terms of our forbearers. But I mean as far as the average Negro today, he knows nothing about Africa. And I think he's got to face the fact that he is an American, his culture is basically American, and one becomes adjusted to this when he realizes what, what he is.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Mean, Thinking, Average

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Destiny, America, Tied Up

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think that we've got to come to see this. The Negro is an American.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I feel that when a white child goes to school only with white children, unconsciously that child grows up in many instances devoid of a world perspective. There is an unconscious provincialism, and it can develop into an unconscious superiority complex just as a Negro develops an unconscious inferiority complex.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Children, Growing Up, School

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think one can live in American society with a certain cultural heritage, whether it's an African heritage or other, European,what have you, and still absorb a great deal of this culture. There is always cultural assimilation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Culture, Heritage

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Wherever schools can be integrated through the busing method, and where it won't be just a, a terrible inconvenience, I think it ought to be done.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  School, Thinking, Done

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think the inconveniences of a segregated education are much greater than the inconveniences of busing students so that they can get an integrated quality education.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Quality, Students

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• If we get setbacks and if something happens where the Civil Rights Bill is watered down, for instance, if the Negro feels that he can do nothing but move from one ghetto to another and one slum to another, the despair and the disappointment will be so great that it will be very difficult to keep the struggle disciplined and nonviolent.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Disappointment, Moving, Struggle

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think there can be a collective leadership. Maybe some symbolize the struggle [for human's rights] a little more than others, but I think it's absolutely necessary for the leadership to be united in order to make the revolution effective.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Thinking, Order

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think if we, say, if all of the major leaders in this struggle [for human's rights] were at, at war with each other, then I think it would be very difficult to make this social revolution the kind of powerful revolution that it's proved to be.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Powerful, War, Struggle

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think a revolution can survive without single centralized leadership.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Revolution

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I do think there must be centralized leadership in the sense that, say, in our struggle all of the leaders coordinate their efforts, cooperate and, and at least evince a degree of unity.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Thinking, Effort

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I'm thinking of love in action and not something where you say, "Love your enemies," and just leave it at that, but you love your enemies to the point that you're willing to sit-in at a lunch counter in order to help them find themselves. You're willing to go to jail.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love You, Thinking, Order

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think in this phase, after the Negro emerges in and from the desegregated society, then a great deal of time must be spent in improving standards which lag behind to a large extent because of segregation,discrimination, and the legacy of slavery.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Legacy, Lag

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Noble, Victim, Motive

  "The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr." by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., www.huffingtonpost.com. January 20, 2014.

• I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Imagine, Economic, Theory

  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter to his future wife, Coretta Scott (July 18, 1952), as quoted in "The greatest MLK speeches you never heard" by John Blake, edition.cnn.com. January 20, 2014.

• There is no sound more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Powerful, Feet, People

  Source: www.salon.com

• Hate is too heavy a burden to bear.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Bears, Burden

  Source: www.salon.com

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