Martin Luther King, Jr. Violence Quotations

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves, never brings permanent peace.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.

Violence multiplies violence.

I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence.

What you get with violence can be maintained only with violence

I would suffer all the humiliation, all the torture, the absolute ostracism and even death, to prevent violence

The United States is the largest exporter of violence in the world

Violence is not only impractical but immoral.

Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

The question is no longer between violence and non-violence it is between non-violence and non-existence.

Violence often brings about momentary results.

Violence is not the way.

Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

The modern choice is between non-violence or non-existence.

Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts.

Violence is anything that denies human integrity, and leads to hopelessness and helplessness.

It's not the violence of the few that scares me, it's the silence of the many