Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and enobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

If a man is called to be a streetsweep-er, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

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

I have condemned any organizer of war, regardless of his rank or nationality.

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

We ain't goin' study war no more.

Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclomations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.

Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace.

Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children.

To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

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

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

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

Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.

Never could I advocate nonviolence in this country and not advocate nonviolence for the whole world.

It's just as evil to kill Vietnamese as it is to kill Americans.

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

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

It is a cruel injustice to tell a bootless man to pull himself up by his bootstraps.

When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.

We live in a world of guided missiles and misguided men.