"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools"
"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"
"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"
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will"
"Seeing is not always believing"
"Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant"
"I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good"
"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted"
