Quotes By Martin Luther King Jr.

A lie cannot live.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

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.

That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

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

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.

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

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

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

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

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.

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Seeing is not always believing.