A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

A right delayed is a right denied.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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 can't ride you unless your back is bent.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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 down together at the table of brotherhood.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and... when they fail to do this purpose they become dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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 one's soul.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote

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, Jr. Quote