Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.
... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.
Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral.
But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.
We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
[E]very human life is a reflection of divinity, and... every act of injustice mars and defaces the image of God in man.
When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city...
The greatness of man cannot be seen in the hours of comfort and convenience, but rather in moments of conflict/adversity
We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.
The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open
My parents would always tell me that I should not hate the white man, but that it was my duty as a Christian to love him.
A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred.
I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
There may be a conflict between softminded religionists and toughminded scientists, but not between science and religion.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
The Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest has been substituted by a philosophy of the survival of the slickest.
If the Negro is to achieve the goal of integration, he must organize himself into a militant and nonviolent mass movement.
When I took up the cross I recognized it's meaning. The cross is something that you bear, and ultimately, that you die on.
Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master, or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.
Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Time has been used destructively by people of ill will much more than it has been used constructively by those of good will.
When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, and to meet the needs of my brothers.
The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
We cannot be truly Christian people so long as we flaunt the central teachings of Jesus: brotherly love and the Golden Rule.
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
The world in which we live is geographically one. The challenge that we face today is to make it one in terms of brotherhood.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
The Negro cannot win the respect of his oppressor by acquiescing; he merely increases the oppressor's arrogance and contempt.
Will we march only to the music of time, or will we, risking criticism and abuse, march to the soul-saving music of eternity?
Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy five and yet not ever truly to have lived.
To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.
Your self-sacrificin g devotion to your purpose in life and your unwavering faith will carry you through times of difficulty.
Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.
Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.
In the struggle for human rights and justice, Negros will make a mistake if they become bitter and indulge in hate campaigns.
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.
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.
Was not Jesus an extremist in love? - "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you."
There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
We must move forward in the days ahead with audacious faith. The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.
One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying.
One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.
Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.