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As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.

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
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Atlanta
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MLK
Martin Luther King
Dr. King
Michael King
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Martin Luther King
Jr.
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More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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If a city has a 30% Negro population, then it is logical to assume that Negroes should have at least 30% of the jobs in any particular company, and jobs in all categories rather than only in menial areas.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I have a dream! To be free at last! Free at last! Free at last. And if a man has nothing to die for, Then his life is worth nothing.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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It's very easy for one talking about violence and hatred for the white man to appeal to [Negro from ghetto]. I have never thought of this, but I think this is quite true, that if, even if you talk to them about nonviolence from a tactical point of view, they can't quite see it because they don't even know they're outnumbered.
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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There is something in the soul that cries out for freedom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Our hope for creative living lies in our ability to reestablish the spiritual needs of our lives in personal character and social justice. Without this spiritual and moral reawakening we shall destroy ourselves in the misuse of our own instruments.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
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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When we rise in the morning... at the table we drink coffee which is provided to us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African before we leave for our jobs we are already beholden to more than half the world.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience... But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Even though I have never had an abrupt conversion experience, religion has been real to me and closely knitted to life. In fact the two cannot be separated religion for me is life.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Through nonviolent resistance the Negro will be able to rise to the noble height of opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The conservatives who say, Let us not move so fast, and the extremists who say, Let us go out and whip the world , would tell you that they are as far apart as the poles. But there is a striking parallel: They accomplish nothing for they do not reach the people who have a crying need to be free.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Our eternal message of hope is that dawn will come.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I may not be the man I want to be I may not be the man I ought to be I may not be the man I could be I may not be the man I truly can be but praise God, I'm not the man I once was
Martin Luther King, Jr.