Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.
I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
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.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nothing degrades a man do more than the allowed stoop so low as to hate someone
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Even in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live, and in agonizing desperation they cry for the bread of hope.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Negro is the child of two cultures — Africa and America. The problem is that in the search for wholeness all too many Negroes seek to embrace only one side of their natures.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The majority of the Negroes who took part in the year-long boycott of Montgomery's buses were poor and untutored; but they understood the essence of the Montgomery movement. One elderly woman summed it up for the rest. When asked after several weeks of walking whether she was tired, she answered: "My feet is tired, but my soul is at rest."
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up for freedom together...
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
There is nothing to be afraid of if you believe and know that the cause for which you stand is right. You are ready to face anything and you face it with a humble smile on your face, because you know that all of eternity stands with you and the angels stand beside you and you know you are right.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal opposition to poverty, racism and militarism.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.