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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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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.
Passionless
Like
Selfish
Dove
Anemic
Quality
Combine
Jesus
Marked
Aimless
Without
Reminds
Combines
Must
Sentimental
Antithesis
Mean
Tenderness
Devoid
Good
Strongly
Toughness
Life
Qualities
Serpent

More quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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In every age and every generation, men have envisioned a promised land. Some may have envisioned it with the wrong ideology, with the wrong philosophical presupposition. But men in every generation thought in terms of some promised land.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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This will be the day when we shall bring into full realization the dream of American democracy - a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few.
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History has thrust something upon me from which I cannot turn away.
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Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here.
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Nothing is so much needed as a secure family life for a people seeking to rise out of poverty and backwardness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I was in the kitchen drinking coffee when I heard Coretta cry, Martin, Martin, come quickly! I put down my cup and ran toward the living room. As I approached the front window Coretta pointed joyfully to a slowly moving bus: Darling, it's empty!
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The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Each one of us has the power to make others feel better or worse. Making others feel better is much more fun than making others feel worse. Making others feel better generally makes us feel better
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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O America, how you've taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Be true to what you said on paper.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If I were constantly worried about death, I couldn't function. After a while, if your life is more or less constantly in peril, you come to a point where you accept the possibility philosophically.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Make your way to death row and speak with the tragic victims of criminality. As they prepare to make their pathetic walk to the electric chair, their hopeless cry is that society will not forgive. Capital punishment is society's final assertion that it will not forgive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Alienation is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Everybody has the blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called jazz, there is a stepping-stone to all of these.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There are more Negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls.
Martin Luther King, Jr.