Quotes By Martin Luther King Jr

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.

We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.

Education without social action is a one‐sided value because it has no true power potential. Social action without education is a weak expression of pure energy.

Deeds uninformed by educated thought can take false directions. When we go into action and confront our adversaries, we must be as armed with knowledge as they.

Our policies should have the strength of deep analysis beneath them to be able to challenge the clever sophistries of our opponents.

We stand in life at midnight; we are always on the threshold of a new dawn.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.

We can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.

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

Let us therefore continue our triumphant march to the realization of the American dream.

Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another.

World peace through non-violent means is neither absurd or unattainable.

They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal.

We are moving up a mighty highway toward the city of Freedom. There will be meandering points. There will be curves and difficult moments, and we will be tempted to retaliate with the same kind of force that the opposition will use. But I'm going to say to you, 'Wait a minute, Birmingham. Somebody's got to have some sense in Birmingham.

Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.

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

Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down.

A right delayed is a right denied.

As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation - either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.