We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
- Martin Luther King
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
- Martin Luther King
The quality not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.
- Martin Luther King
The time is always right to do what is right.
- Martin Luther King
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?
- Martin Luther King
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
- Martin Luther King
Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King
A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
- Martin Luther King
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King
Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
- Martin Luther King
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
- Martin Luther King
To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
- Martin Luther King
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
- Martin Luther King
A riot is the language of the unheard.
- Martin Luther King
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
- Martin Luther King
When you are right you cannot be too radical. When you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
- Martin Luther King
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
- Martin Luther King
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
- Martin Luther King
The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
- Martin Luther King
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.
- Martin Luther King
I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.
- Martin Luther King
If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
- Martin Luther King
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?
- Martin Luther King
We must use time creatively.
- Martin Luther King
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King
Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
- Martin Luther King
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
- Martin Luther King
