was a baptist minister and civil right activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. )
- If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you
can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving
forward.
- Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
- Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite
hope.
- Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
- Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a
friend.
- As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two
ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react
with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative
force. I decided to follow the latter course.
- Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the
well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments
are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look
the other way.
- Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life;
love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
- I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal.'… 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 today.
- 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.
- A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on
military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.
- The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the
servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.
- Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding
deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot
drive out hate: only love can do that.
- Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in
a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil --
hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or
we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
- When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and
weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just
emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great
religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love
is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate
reality.
- I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I
think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that
we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right,
God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has
the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.
- Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have
guided missiles and misguided men.
- There comes a time when one must take the position that is
neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because
conscience tells him it is right.
- Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't
have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your
subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of
grace. A soul generated by love.
- I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time
much more effectively than the people of goodwill. 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. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on
wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and
persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and
without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of
social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize
that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make
real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national
elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift
our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the
solid rock of human dignity.
- Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.
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