Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade.
Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent
Racial understanding is not something we find, but something that we must create. Through education, we seek to change attitudes.
Darkness cannot be overcome with more darkness, only with light. Violence cannot be overcome with more violence, only with peace.
If a person sweeps streets for a living, he should sweep them as Michelangelo painted, as Beethoven composed, as Shakespear wrote.
Slaves do not always welcome their deliverers. They become accustomed to being slaves. They would rather gear those ills they have
A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.
My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.
Without love, there is no reason to know anyone, for love will in the end connect us to our neighbors, our children and our hearts.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
I have a dream! To be free at last! Free at last! Free at last. And if a man has nothing to die for, Then his life is worth nothing.
Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.
Education without direction is a one-sided social value. Direct action without education is a meaningless expression of pure energy.
There is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
We need not join the mad rush to purchase an earthly fallout shelter. God is our eternal fallout shelter. From Strength to Love, 1963
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.
The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. Religion reminds every man that he is his brother's keeper.
The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.
It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.
Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil.
The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves, never brings permanent peace.
So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has the right to exist, and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.
We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.
There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.
When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.
In the current struggle, there is one positive course of action. There is no alternative, for the alternative would connote a rear march.
Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.
We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do.
Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.
Great people aren't those who are happy at times of convienience and content, but of how they are in times of catastrophy and controversy.
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.
In order to be true to one's conscience and true to God, a righteous man has no alternative but to refuse to cooperate with an evil system.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against.
I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism.
In our society, it is psychological murder to deprive a man of a job...you are in substance saying to that man "You have no right to exist.
I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.
It is a tragic mix-up when the United States spends 500,000 for every enemy soldier killed, and only 53 annually on the victims of poverty.
Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.
Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.
Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.