Be the peace you wish to see in the world!

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

In a sense, songs are the soul of a movement.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

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.

 I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions.

This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream – a dream yet unfulfilled.

A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few;

A dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man’s skin determines the content of his character;

 A dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.

Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

I subject myself to self-purification and to endless self-analysis; I question and soul-search constantly into myself to be as certain as I can that I am fulfilling the true meaning of my work, that I am maintaining my sense of purpose, that I am holding fast to my ideals, that I am guiding my people in the right direction.

But whatever my doubts, however heavy the burden, I feel that I must accept the task of helping to make this nation and this world a better place to live in – for all men, black and white alike.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

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.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.

 As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars.

As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy even if I just got a good checkup at Mayo Clinic.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made.

No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.

When I am angry I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.

We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

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

Capitalism is always in danger of inspiring men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life. 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 humanity-thus capitalism can lead to a practical materialism that is as pernicious as the materialism taught by communism.

A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.

The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.

You can have no influence over those for whom you have underlying contempt.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. […] The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age.

Voting is the foundation stone for political action.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.

The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.

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.