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Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.

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
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.
Love
Feeling
Moral
Feelings
Keep
Firsts
Need
First
Generosity
Needs
Excellence

More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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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.
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If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Christ furnished the spirit and motivation while Gandhi furnished the method.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The United States is the largest exporter of violence in the world
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Agape is disinterested love. . . . Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. . . . Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friend and enemy it is directed toward both.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Nonviolence is the most potent technique for oppressed people. Unearned suffering is redemptive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The more I thought about human nature, the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin/mistakes causes us to use our minds to rationalize our action.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There comes a time when a moral man can't obey a law which his conscience tells him is unjust.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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[Malcolm X] had said a great deal about nonviolence, criticizing nonviolence, and saying that I approved of Negro men and women being bitten by dogs and the fire hoses, and I say, say go on and not defend yourself. I think this kind of response grew out of the build up, all of the talk about my being a sort of polished Uncle Tom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Knowledge is a process of piling up facts wisdom lies in their simplification.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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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.
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Nonviolent resistance makes it possible for the Negro to remain in the South and struggle for his rights. The Negro's problem will not be solved by running away.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I've decided to stick with love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.