Martin Luther King, Jr. Kings Quotations

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

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.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

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.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.

I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal

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

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

What are you doing for others?

Whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward!

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

In some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Our goal is to create a beloved community," said Dr. King, "and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin,...

There are often multiple sources for some famous statements by King; as a professional speaker and minister he used some significant phrases with only slight variation many times in his essays, books, and his speeches to different audiences.

I refuse to accept the view . . . that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down." --From My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris

Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate.

Lord help me to see M. L. King as M. L. King in his true perspective.

Truth crushed to earth will rise again.

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate...

For more than two centuries our foreparents labored here without wages; they made cotton king; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation - and yet out of a bottomless vitality our people continue to thrive and develop.

Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.

Right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. ... Every now and then I ask myself, 'What is it that I want said?' I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to love somebody.

I have a dream, that one day on the red hills of Georgia...

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars...

Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.

Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?