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Martin Luther King Jr.

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Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.

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Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

In the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and, ultimately, destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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understanding empathy fear knowledge communication
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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.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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civil disobedience nonviolence tension
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Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. . . . Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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war love hate violence hatred darkness
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Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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spirituality power science
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We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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action history change fate
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For evil to succeed, all it needs is for good men to do nothing.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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success evil inaction
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Reconsider your definitions. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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humanity success money mankind cars charity service definitions
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The question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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extremism
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We are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be beaten and robbed as they make their journey through life. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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strength hearts change conscience respect nonviolence courage oppression self-respect
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As you press on with justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapons of love.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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justice love dignity discipline
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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.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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hate spirit nonviolence violence
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Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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