Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

What I'm saying to you this morning is that Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the Kingdom of Brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of Communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The non-violent resistor not only avoids external, physical violence, but he avoids internal violence of spirit. He not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he refuses to hate him. And he stands with understanding, goodwill at all times.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Only God is able. It is faith in Him that we must rediscover. With this faith we can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…. We demand this fraud be stopped.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

A right delayed is a right denied.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Violence is not only impractical but immoral.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

My call to the ministry was not a miraculous or supernatural something. On the contrary it was an inner urge calling me to serve humanity.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed... Why be anxious? Come what may, God is able.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

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

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

When religion becomes so involved in a future good over yonder that it forgets the present evils over here it is as dry as dust religion and needs to be condemned.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

We all came in on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

In the end, what will hurt us the most is not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

[I] know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems....

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The Cross is the eternal expression of the length to which God will go to in order to restore broken community.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Only a dry as dust religion prompts a minister to extol the glories of Heaven while ignoring the social conditions that cause men an Earthly hell.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of a true education.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Admitting the weighty problems and staggering disappointments, Christianity affirms that God is able to give us the power to meet them. He is able to give us inner equilibrium to stand tall amid the trials and burdens of life. He is able to provide inner peace amid our outer storms.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect, it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

There can be no deep disappointment where there in not deep love.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Our only hope lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that thereare some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they areworth dying for. And if a person has not found something to die for, thatperson isn't fit to live!

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win, and their participants know it.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.