Quotes by Martin Luther King

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man cant ride you unless your back is bent.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isnt fit to live.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

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.

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.

The sweltering summer of the Negros legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of lifes July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

That old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

We must use time creatively.

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