362 quotes
The great military leaders of the past have gone, their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing.
Loving Your Enemies (1957)
We know that there are many things wrong in the white world, but there are many things wrong in the black world too. We can't keep on blaming the white man. There are things we must do for ourselves.
In spite of its glowing talk about the welfare of the masses, Communism's methods and philosophy strip man of his dignity and worth, leaving him as little more than a depersonalized cog in the ever-turning wheel of the state.
Strength to Love (1963)
It is true that behavior cannot be legislated, and legislation cannot make you love me, but legislation can restrain you from lynching me, and I think that is kind of important.
Dark yesterday can be transformed into bright tomorrow.
Discerning the Signs of History (1964)
Furthermore, few, if any, violent revolutions have been successful unless the violent minority had the sympathy and support of the non-resisting majority.
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.
Loving Your Enemies (1957)
That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature, spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.
Address to AFL–CIO (1961)
They're going to dislike you, not because of something that you've done to them, but because of various jealous reactions and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.
Loving Your Enemies (1957)
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time — the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1964)
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 law.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
By nonviolent resistance, the Negro can also enlist all men of good will in his struggle for equality. The problem is not a purely racial one, with Negroes set against whites. In the end, it is not a struggle between people at all, but a tension between justice and injustice.
Religion has to be interpreted for each age; stated in terms that that age can understand. But the essential purpose of religion remains the same. It is not to perpetuate a dogma or theology; but to produce living witnesses and testimonies to the power of God in human experience.
We must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools.
A Christmas Sermon (1967)
Jesus is eternally right. History is replete with the bleached bones of nations that refused to listen to him.
Loving Your Enemies (1957)
A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Let us be practical and ask the question: How do we love our enemies?
Loving Your Enemies (1957)
We are not just at the center of this universe. We are only at the center to the extent that we give ourselves and our allegiance to God Almighty.
Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)
If physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children and their white brothers from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
Keep Moving From This Mountain (1965)
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.
The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)