Quote

I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Preacher
Theologian
Atlanta
Georgia
MLK
Martin Luther King
Dr. King
Michael King
Michael King Jr.
M.L. King
Martin Luther
Jr. King
Martin Luther King
Jr.
First
Clearly
Never
Violence
World
Greatest
Purveyor
Voice
Militarism
Government
Oppressed
Today
Spoken
Firsts
Raise
Without
Raises

More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Image
We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
Life isn't worth living until you have found something worth dying for.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
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.
Image
I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life's blueprint. Number one...should be a deep belief in your own dignity. Your worth and your own somebodiness... Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
The job of the school is to teach so well that family background is no longer an issue.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
The only time people do not like praise is when too much of it is going toward someone else.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
I'm thinking of love in action and not something where you say, Love your enemies, and just leave it at that, but you love your enemies to the point that you're willing to sit-in at a lunch counter in order to help them find themselves. You're willing to go to jail.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
From my Christian formation've gotten my ideals and technique Gandhi action
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
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.
Image
To have peace in the world, men & nations must embrace the nonviolent assertion that ends and means must cohere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present. America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we will not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
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.
Image
I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
If a man has not discovered anything so dying is not worth living
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image
We decided to set our direct-action program around the Easter season, realizing that, with exception of Christmas, this was the largest shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action.
Martin Luther King, Jr.