Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes Pertinent To U*U Injustices, Abuses, Hypocrisy, And Yes. . . Stupidity

In that today is Martin Luther King Day aka MLK Day I have decided to provide a selection of quotations from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that are quite pertinent to U*U injustices, abuses, hypocrisy and stupidity. Of course they are quite pertinent to injustices, abuses, hypocrisy and stupidity much more generally. I will probably add some appropriate links to these Martin Luther King quotes later.


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

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

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

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

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.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

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

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The time is always right to do what is right.

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

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.

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

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

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

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.