Top 25 Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. of 1202 - Page 18

Power at its best is love implementing the demand of justice.

Power at its best is love implementing the demand of justice.

Power, Justice, Demand

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.200, Beacon Press

World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace, War, Believe

It is Love that will save our world and our civilization.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our World, Civilization, World

"Loving Your Enemies". Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

But alas! Science cannot now rescue us, for even the scientist is lost in the terrible midnight of our age. Indeed, science gave us the very instruments that threaten to bring universal suicide.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Suicide, Age, Midnight

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Morning, Reality, Quality

"The trumpet of conscience".

We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Heart, Mind, Tough

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thinking, Men, Optimism

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.65, Beacon Press

The Negroes of America had taken the President, the press and the pulpit at their word when they spoke in broad terms of freedom and justice. But the absence of brutality and unregenerate evil is not the presence of justice. To stay murder is not the same thing as to ordain brotherhood.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Taken, America, Evil

Martin Luther King (Jr.), Michael K. Honey (2011). “All Labor Has Dignity”, p.110, Beacon Press

The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Brother, Humility, Men

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If todayI lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Christian, Country, Brother

"Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

I was not afraid of the words of the violent, but of the silence of the honest.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Silence, Honest, Violent

It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Equality, Men, Bootstraps

I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Men, Conformity, Conviction

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010). “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”, p.86, Beacon Press

Be concerned about your brother...eithe r we go up together, or we go down together.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Brother, Together, Concerned

Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace, Kings, Truth

Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 10 Dec. 1964

My faith in man is, at bottom, a faith in God.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith, Men, Faith In God

[W]e are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder. I for one am not ashamed of this past. My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Past, Fire, Black History

I judge people by their own principles..not by my own

Martin Luther King, Jr.

People, Judging, Principles

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets as Raphael painted pictures, sweep streets as Michelangelo carved marble, sweep streets as Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life, Fall, Raphael

Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hate, Love And Hate, Tears

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Creative, Brotherhood, Together

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.115, Beacon Press