Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thanks to our friend Katherine Grace McGlothlin for these inspiring quotes honoring Dr. King, on his birthday, Jan. 16:



PEACE
QUOTES FROM MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Riverside
Church, New York City, 1967
  

 

 “Here
is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when
it

helps
us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to
know

his
assessment of ourselves.  For
from his view we may indeed see the basic

weakness
of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and
grow

and
profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the
opposition.”

 

Martin
Luther King, Jr.  (1929 – 1968)
Baptist minister, author, civil rights activist, excerpts from his 
acceptance speech, when receiving the 1964 Nobel Peace
Prize.

 

“Nonviolence
is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which

makes
for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the
world

will
have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby
transform

this
pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.

 

If
this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a
method

which
rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such
a

method
is love……….

 

I
refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the
river

of
life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
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
refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must
spiral

down
a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.
I

believe
that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final
word

in
reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than
evil

triumphant………..

 

I
believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there
is

still
hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice,
lying

prostrate
on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted
from

this
dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of
men………

 

I
have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
meals

a
day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and
dignity,

equality
and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what
self-centered

men
have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe
that

one
day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned
triumphant

over
war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim
the

rule
of the land.

 

“And
the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall
sit

under
his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.”

 

I
still believe that we shall overcome.”

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