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Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.
Age: 39 †
Born: 1929
Born: January 15
Died: 1968
Died: April 4
Civil Rights Advocate
Human Rights Activist
Humanitarian
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Atlanta
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MLK
Martin Luther King
Dr. King
Michael King
Michael King Jr.
M.L. King
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Martin Luther King
Jr.
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More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies... True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look on uneasily upon the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation.
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The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Courage faces fear and thereby masters it. Cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Jesus reminds us that the good life combines the toughness of the serpent and the tenderness of the dove. To have serpent-like qualities devoid of dovelike qualities is to be passionless, mean, and selfish. To have dovelike without serpent-like qualities is to be sentimental, anemic and aimless. We must combine strongly marked antitheses.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of tough-mindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hard-heartedness?
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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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.
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Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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To deny a man a job is to say that a man has no right to exist.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Be the best of whatever you are.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I would urge you to give priority to the search for God. Allow his spirit to permeate your being. ... If you do not have a deep and patient faith in God, you will be powerless to face the delays, disappointments, and vicissitudes that inevitably come.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lives a great street-sweeper who did his job well'
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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My friends, all I'm trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we've got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we've left behind. That's the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy five and yet not ever truly to have lived.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Education without direction is a one-sided social value. Direct action without education is a meaningless expression of pure energy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.