Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.

For years now I have heard the word "wait." It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "wait" has almost always meant "never."

Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection.

The movement for equality and justice can only be a success if it has both a mass and militant character; the barriers to be overcome require both.

Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.

Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.

Seeing is not always believing.

Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.

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 Negro's problem will not be solved by running away.

The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are.

Violence often brings about momentary results.

There is no gain without struggle.

Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up.

A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred.

We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

What affects one in a major way, affects all in a minor way.

If you haven't found something worth dying for, you're not fit to live.

To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals.