When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

When you are right you cannot be too radical when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Human reason is like a drunken man on horseback; set it up on one side, and it tumbles over on the other.

Next to theology I give to music the highest place and honor. And we see how David and all the saints have wrought their godly thoughts into verse, rhyme, and song.

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

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

I have a dream that one day ... the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

A nation that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

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

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

The time is always right to do what is right.

We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Our loyalties must transend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation and this means we must develop a world perspective.

But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
Expediency asks the question - is it political?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political; but because it is right.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I?ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say:?We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you.... But be assured that we?ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force... If we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has the right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.

A man who won?t die for something is not fit to live.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

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

One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Civilization has been thrust upon me... and it has not added one whit to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity.

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

We have flown the air like birds and swum the seas like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values -- that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society ... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

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

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

The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.

All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

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

We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act it is an attitude.

The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

The question is no longer between violence and non-violence it is between non-violence and non-existence.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

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

If ignorance paid dividends, most Americans could make a fortune out of what they don't know about economics.

Do not condemn the man that cannot think or act as fast as you can, because there was a time when you could not do things as well as you can today.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

Hatred paralyzes life love releases it. Hatred confuses life love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life love illumines it.

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

Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.