1,161 Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some of my best friends are Oscar Wilde.

I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of this city left the Negro community with no other alternative.

One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everbody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody's business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace.

And violence is impractical, because the old eye for an eye philosophy ends up leaving everybody blind .. It is immoral because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for everybody. Means and ends are inseparable. The means represent the ideal in the making; in the long run of history destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.

We must move forward in the days ahead with audacious faith. The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

The hope of the world is still in dedicated minorities. The trail-blazers in human, scientific and religious freedom have always been in a minority.

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