A riot is the language of the unheard.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
We must use time creatively.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
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.
If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
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.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
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.
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.
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?'
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
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.
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.
The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.
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.
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
A lie cannot live.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
Seeing is not always believing.
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.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.
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.
I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
