Quotes by Martin Luther King

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?

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

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

I am not interested in power for powers sake, but Im interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

I just want to do Gods will. And hes allowed me to go to the mountain. And Ive looked over, and Ive 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.

Dont let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.

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

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of ones soul.

Faith is taking the first step even when you dont see the whole staircase.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Lifes most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?

The quality, not the longevity, of ones life is what is important.

Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. Thats the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.

It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.