He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. 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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A lie cannot live. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A right delayed is a right denied. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A riot is the language of the unheard. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 the law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
