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We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

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
Leader
Minister
Pacifist
Pastor
Peace Activist
Politician
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Atlanta
Georgia
MLK
Martin Luther King
Dr. King
Michael King
Michael King Jr.
M.L. King
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Jr. King
Martin Luther King
Jr.
Merely
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Direct
Disobedience
Already
Engage
Bring
Protest
Alive
Tension
Action
Hidden
Creator
Surface
Nonviolent

More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.
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Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.
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A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.
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The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everyone blind.
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We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces they don't know what to do.
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We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.
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A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
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Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
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Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
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A world war - God forbid! - will leave only smoldering ashes as a mute testimony of a human race whose folly led inexorably to untimely death. Yet there are those who sincerely feel that disarmament is an evil and international negotiation is an abominable waste of time.
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Courage faces fear and thereby masters it
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Faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Once you become dedicated to a cause, personal security is not the goal. What will happen to you personally does not matter. My cause, my race, is worth dying for.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If we get setbacks and if something happens where the Civil Rights Bill is watered down, for instance, if the Negro feels that he can do nothing but move from one ghetto to another and one slum to another, the despair and the disappointment will be so great that it will be very difficult to keep the struggle disciplined and nonviolent.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The majority of the Negroes who took part in the year-long boycott of Montgomery's buses were poor and untutored but they understood the essence of the Montgomery movement one elderly woman summed it up for the rest. When asked after several weeks of walking whether she was tired, she answered: My feet is tired, but my soul is at rest.
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Hate destroys the hater.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Was not Jesus an extremist in love? - Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Be sure to play Blessed Lord tonight - play it real pretty.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.
Martin Luther King, Jr.