Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes - Page 16

• There is no easy way to create a world where men and women can live together... But if such a world is created in our lifetime, it will be done by rejecting the racism, materialism, and violence that has characterized Western civilization and especially by working toward a world of brotherhood, cooperation, and peace.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Men, Civilization, Racism

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.158, Beacon Press

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• Unless you have found something in life to live for that is more important to you than your own life, you will always be a slave. For all another man needs to do is threaten to take your life to get you to do his bidding.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Men, Important, Needs

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• If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia, Africa, or South America. Is this not why nations engage in the madness of war without the slightest sense of penitence? Is this not why the murder of a citizen of your own nation is a crime, but the murder of citizens of another nation in war is an act of heroic virtue?

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  War, America, Citizens

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, 'Love your enemies.' It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Jesus, Love You, Thinking

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

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• All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Decision, Progress, Faces

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.105, Beacon Press

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• Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  True Power, Sophistry, Action

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Submissive, Surrender, Cowardice

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.138, Beacon Press

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• We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Real, Luxury, America

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• A third reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Love Is, Enemy

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Powerful, Self Esteem, Night

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2016). “MLK on "The Other America" and "Black Power"”, p.15, Beacon Press

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• Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Keys, Our World, Enemy

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.46, Beacon Press

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• Liberalism provided me with an intellectual satisfaction that I never found in fundamentalism. I became so enamored of the insights of liberalism that I almost fell into the trap of accepting uncritically everything it encompassed.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Intellectual, Satisfaction, Accepting

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.151, Beacon Press

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• I was much more afraid in Montgomery when I had a gun in my house. When I decided that I couldn’t keep a gun, I came face-to-face with the question of death and I dealt with it. From that point on, I no longer needed a gun nor have I been afraid. Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Gun, Safety, House

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• Something should remind us once more that the great things in this universe are things that we never see.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Should, Great Things, Universe

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• I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Breaking Silence, World, Revolution

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

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, History, Historical

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.13, Beacon Press

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• I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, God

  Address to sanitation workers, Memphis, Tenn., 3 Apr. 1968.

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• I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Men, Optimism

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.65, Beacon Press

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• You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, People, Disrespect

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• We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If todayI lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Country, Brother

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Hate, Justice

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.99, Beacon Press

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• The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Pain, May, Life Is

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Mind, Tough

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Girl, Dream, Boys

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• Racial understanding is not something we find, but something that we must create. Through education, we seek to change attitudes.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Attitude, Understanding, Peaceful

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