Martin Luther King Jr. the Minister, biography, facts and quotes

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom"

"A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan"

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live"

"A man can't ride your back unless it's bent"

"A lie cannot live"

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

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men"

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood"

"Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness"

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies"

"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"

"One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam"

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live"

"The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt"

"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?""

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

"Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek"

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live"

"We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now"

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

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

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

"I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, 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"

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

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"

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

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals"

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope"

"The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice"

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"

"I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law"

"War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow"

"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"

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative"

"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"

"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality"

"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"

"We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive"

"We must use time creatively"

"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing"

"There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth"

"There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love"

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

"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"

"The time is always right to do what is right"

"The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality"

"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"

"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important"

"The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows"

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step"

Occup.	Minister
From	USA
Born	January 15, 1929 Atlanta, Georgia
Died	April 4, 1968 Memphis, Tennessee
Cause	Assassination
Aged	39 years

Martin Luther King Jr. Biography

93 Famous quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.