Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Heart

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Mind, Tough

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

• Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Marriage

• The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Creativity, Creative

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

• Christianity affirms that at the heart of reality is a Heart, a loving Father who works through history for the salvation of His children. Man cannot save himself, for man is not the measure of all things and humanity is not God. Bound by the chains of his own sin and finiteness, man needs a Savior.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  God, Christian, Religious

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

• Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Graduation, Hate

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.119, Beacon Press

• The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It destroys communities and makes humanity impossible. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers... In winning our freedom, we will so appeal to you heart and conscience that we will win you in the process.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Eye, Winning

• It is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, May, Opponents

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.75, Beacon Press

• One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of head and heart-intelligence and goodness-shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Men, One Day

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

• Without love, there is no reason to know anyone, for love will in the end connect us to our neighbors, our children and our hearts.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Children, Heart, Reason

• You only need a heart full of grace

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Greatness, Helping Others

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.222, Beacon Press

• The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Heart, Emotional

• It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Law, May

  Methodist Student Leadership Conference Address, delivered 1964, Lincoln, Nebraska

• At the heart of all that civilization has meant and developed is 'community' - the mutually cooperative and voluntary venture of man to assume a semblance of responsibility for his brother.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Responsibility, Heart

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

• Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. [...] You only need a heart full of grace.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Helping Others, Greatness

  "The Drum Major Instinct". Sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, February 4, 1968.

• Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Political, May

  Speech, Nashville, Tenn., 27 Dec. 1962

• 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 they did not know they had.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Respect, Determination, Heart

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

• Do to us what you will, and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and as difficult as it is, we will still love you. But we 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 so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Encouragement, Children, Love You

  Methodist Student Leadership Conference Address, delivered 1964, Lincoln, Nebraska

• Somebody must have sense enough to meet hate with love. Somebody must have sense enough to meet physical force with soul force. If we will but try this way, we will be able to change these conditions and yet at the same time win the hearts and souls of those who have kept these conditions alive a way as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth, as modern as the techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi. There is another way.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Jesus, Hate, Heart

• This faith transforms the whirlwind of despair into a warm and reviving breeze of hope. The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts: Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wall, Home, Heart

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.128, Beacon Press

• It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Laughter, Heart

• One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, One Day

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

• With the tough mind, there must also be a tender heart.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Mind, Tender Hearts

• One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Heart, Winning

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

• My soul is too glad and too great to be at heart the enemy of any man

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Heart, Men, Soul

• I would be misleading you if I made you feel that we could win a violent campaign. It's impractical even to think about it. The minute we start, we will end up getting many more people killed unnecessarily. Now, I'm ready to die myself. Many other committed people are ready to die. If you believe in something firmly, if you believe in it truly, if you believe it in your heart, you are willing to die for it, but I'm not going to advocate a method that brings about unnecessary death.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Believe, Heart, Thinking

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