Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That's the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society ... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false, and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King, Jr.