Worth Quoting
By Dr. Martin Luther King
* We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. (Western Michigan University, December 1963)
* Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. (Nobel Lecture, University of Oslo, December 1964)
* We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. (In My Own Words, a collection of King’s sermons, speeches, and writings selected by his widow, Coretta Scott King)
* I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (“I Have a Dream” speech, Lincoln Memorial, August 1963)
* I must confess, my friends, the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there…. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. (“Where Do We Go From Here?” speech, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, August 1967)
* Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (“Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963)
* Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness. (“The Most Durable Power” speech, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, November 1956)
* Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. (Strength to Love, 1963)
* There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. (“A Proper Sense of Priorities” speech, Washington, DC, February 1968)