Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws. (from "Rediscovering Lost Values")

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

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.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

This way of settling differences is not just. This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love."

I was in the kitchen drinking coffee when I heard Coretta cry, "Martin, Martin, come quickly!" I put down my cup and ran toward the living room. As I approached the front window Coretta pointed joyfully to a slowly moving bus: "Darling, it's empty!"

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

...The straitjackets of race prejudice and discrimination do not wear only southern labels. The subtle, psychological technique of the North has approached in its ugliness and victimization of the Negro the outright terror and open brutality of the South.

Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.

Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface hidden tension that is already alive

Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

We did not hesitate to call our movement an army. But it was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience.

I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of tough-mindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hard-heartedness?

No one can pretend that because a people may be oppressed, every individual member is virtuous and worthy.

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

We must substitute courage for caution.

But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.

I have a dream that my four little 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.

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?

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

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love

Through violence you may murder the hater, but you cannot murder hate.

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.

In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out: there are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and Negro alike.

Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.

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.

It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.

All labor has dignity.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

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

It is simply my way of saying that I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity. Occasionally in life one develops a conviction so precious and meaningful that he will stand on it till the end. That is what I have found in nonviolence.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

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.

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.

Violence is not only impractical but immoral.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

Find a voice in a whisper.

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.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.

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