Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

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

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

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

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.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

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

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

The time is always right to do what is right.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

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

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

A right delayed is a right denied.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

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

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

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

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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.

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

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

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

A riot is the language of the unheard.

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