Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have selected some of his quotes – to comprise the bulk of today’s blog post.
We live in a bumper-sticker society. (That’s about as close as most of us get to philosophy or wisdom.) Though many of these might be on a bumper sticker, I feel that together they are quite substantial.
I wish to introduce these thoughts of Martin Luther King
with a quote by J. Krishnamurti –
“It is only the religious mind that is truly a revolutionary mind.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.
If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.
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.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
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.
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.
The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.
Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
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.
Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.
Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.
If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
A right delayed is a right denied.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
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.
I submit that 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.
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
We must use time creatively.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
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.
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.
That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
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. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.
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. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.
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.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
A lie cannot live.
The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.
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.
Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
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.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
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.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Awesome article.