from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.
Freedom is not free.
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
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.
I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
I have a dream that my four 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 submit that an individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.
If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?
Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind.
The Negro's concern isn't to be the white man's brother-in-law, but to be his brother.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not yet learned the simple art of living together like brothers. Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity of spirit.
We must accept finite disappointments, but we must never lose infinite hope.
We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.
When you are right, you cannot be too radical; When you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
Categories: Martin Luther King, Jr., Quotes of the day
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