Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
But most whites in America in 1967, including many persons of goodwill, proceed from a premise that equality is a loose expression for improvement. White America is not even psychologically organized to close the gap—essentially it seeks only to make it less painful and less obvious but in most respects to retain it. Most of the abrasions between Negroes and white liberals arise from this fact.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of the great needs of mankind is to be lifted above the morass of false propaganda.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Never, never be afraid to do what is right. Society's punishments are small compare to the wounds we inflict on our souls when we look away
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
A third reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action...If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the wellbeing of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it
— Martin Luther King, Jr.