Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and ... when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes, I see the Church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.