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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete.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.

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

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

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

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.

Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act it is an attitude.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

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.

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

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

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.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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

All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

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

The time is always right to do what is right.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.