Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.”

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

“I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.”

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”

“Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.”