Quotes contributed by members of Famous Quotes and Famous Sayings at The Famous Quotes List.

Without love, benevolence becomes egotism 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size 
of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and 
relationship to mankind. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

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. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; 
it must be demanded by the oppressed. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
'Letter from Birmingham Jail' Why We Can't Wait 1963. 

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; 
love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, 
but a means by which we arrive at that goal. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and 
eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values 
and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as 
ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the 
false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love 
implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is 
love correcting everything that stands against love. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, 
aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Book of Positive Quotations by John Cook 

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

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

Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. 
You don't have to have college degree to serve. 
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. 
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

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

Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others? 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

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. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, 
but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

The question is not whether we will be extremists, 
but what kind of extremists we will be. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Letter from Birmingham Jail in Why We Can't Wait 1963. 

The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent 
will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Address at Lincoln Memorial during March on Washington, 28 Aug 1963 

We will speed the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, 
Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to 
join hands and sing ...Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Address at Lincoln Memorial during March on Washington, 28 Aug 1963 

From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. 
From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. 
From the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, let freedom ring ... 
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Address at Lincoln Memorial during March on Washington, 28 Aug 1963 

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice 
and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously 
structured dams that block the flow of social progress. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' 
in Why We Can't Wait 1963. 

Without justice, there can be no peace. 
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it 
as he who helps to perpetrate it. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Stride Towards Freedom 

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Letter from Birmingham Jail' in Why We Can't Wait, 1963 

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. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

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

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. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in 
it as he who helps to perpetrate it 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. 
Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and 
toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....
The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars
 -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the 
true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident 
that all men are created equal. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, 
but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. 
We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. 
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.