Martin Luther King Jr.
American Baptist minister and civil rights leader (1929 to 1968); led the Montgomery bus boycott and the Birmingham campaign, gave the "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
From the book Why We Can't Wait17 korrents
Martin Luther King Jr. did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
Their wordsNonviolence is a powerful and just weapon.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe Negro had never really been patient in the pure sense of the word.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
Nonviolence is a weapon unique in history that cuts without wounding and ennobles whoever wields it
Their wordsIt is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsNonviolence had tremendous psychological importance to the Negro. He had to win and to vindicate his dignity in order to merit and enjoy his self-esteem.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe tokenism Negroes condemn is recognizable because it is an end in itself. Its purpose is not to begin a process, but instead to end the process of protest and pressure.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsWe are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsConversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsThe answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
Whoever breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and willing to accept the penalty
Their wordsOne who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsWe will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsHuman progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsWe must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever; the yearning for freedom eventually shows itself
Their wordsOppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsBut now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe majority of Negro leadership is innately opposed to compromise.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsNonviolence, the answer to the Negroes' need, may become the answer to the most desperate need of all humanity.
↗Why We Can't Wait (Penguin Modern Classics, 2018 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.