We must accept finite disappointment but we must never lose infinite hope.
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.
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for he isn’t fit to live.
We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
Human Salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
Hatred paralyzes life love releases it. Hatred confuses life love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life love illumines it.
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for he isn’t fit to live.
I want to be the white man’s brother not his brother-in-law.
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.
Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history which cuts without wounding and enobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
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.
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
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.
It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
The sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.
That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
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.
Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.
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.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.