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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.

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.
Violence
Spirals
Justice
Descending
Way
Achieving
Racial
Immoral
Ending
Impractical
Destruction
Spiral
Achieve
Humiliate

More quotes by 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.
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I think that we've got to come to see this. The Negro is an American.
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My obligation is to do the right thing. The rest is in God's hands.
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One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
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The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community. A boycott is never an end within itself. It is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor but the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We should never forget that everything Adolph Hitler did in Germany was legal and everything the Hungarian freedom fighers did in Hungary was illegal. It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany.
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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.
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The greatness of man cannot be seen in the hours of comfort and convenience, but rather in moments of conflict/adversity
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Whom you would change, you must first love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There is some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If we are going to achieve a real equality, the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of Socialism.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that's positive for them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire and it has to be presented in a compelling way so that they feel inspired to follow.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.
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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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The ultimate solution to the race problem lies in the willingness of men to obey the unenforceable.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.