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.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“A Christmas Sermon on Peace,” radio broadcast, CBC (Canada) (24 Dec 1967)
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood; 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.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“I Have a Dream” speech, Washington, DC (1963)
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“I Have a Dream,” speech, Washington, DC (28 Aug 1963)
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! 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.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” speech, Memphis (3 Apr 1968)
King's final public speech. He was assassinated the following day.
Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” , Christian Century (13 Apr 1960)
Full text.
As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I possess a billion dollars. As long as millions of people are inflicted with debilitating diseases and cannot expect to live more than thirty-five years, I can never be totally healthy even if I receive a perfect bill of health from Mayo Clinic. Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution,” Commencement Speech, Morehouse College, Atlanta (2 Jun 1959)
Full text.
Any church that violates the “whosoever will, let him come” doctrine is a dead, cold church, and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
“The Drum Major Instinct,” sermon, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta (4 Feb 1968)
As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(1956)
One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and therefore, brothers.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
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.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; It is the presence of justice.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Freedom is not free.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
In the end, it’s not the words of our enemies we will remember, but the silence of our friends.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
(Attributed)
Variant: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
The gospel at its best deals with the whole man, not only his soul but his body, not only his spiritual well-being, but his material well being. Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Pilgrimage to Non-Violence (1960)
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Strength to Love (1963)
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction … The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Strength To Love (1963)
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.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Strength to Love (1963)
The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Strength to Love, 2.3 (1963)
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