Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Politics

• Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Political, Causes, Charity

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

• History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Sad, Wisdom, Bad Relationship

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

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Death, 4th Of July, Bad Ass

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

• A right delayed is a right denied.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Rights, Rejection

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Direct Action

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

• A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Leadership

  An address at the Episcopal National Cathedral, Washington D.C, March 31, 1968.

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Witty, Kings

  Strength to Love (1963) ch. 4

• Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Justice, Demand

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.200, Beacon Press

• It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Acceptance

  1962 Speech at Cornell College, Mt Vernon, Iowa. Reported in the Wall Street Journal, 13 Nov.

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Motivational, Spiritual, Men

  BiographyPersonal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

• If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, Maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. ... But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Country, Greatness, Russia

  I've Been to the Mountaintop, delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee

• Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Country, Children

  Thomas F. Jackson, Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2007). “From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice”, p.230, University of Pennsylvania Press

• There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Time

  "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech in Washington, D.C., kinginstitute.stanford.edu. March 31, 1968.

• This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together– black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu– a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Black And White, Ideas, House

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.17, Beacon Press

• A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will "thingify" them and make them things. And therefore, they will exploit them and poor people generally economically. And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and it will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. What I'm saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, "America, you must be born again!"

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Military, Years

• A host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts among husbands, wives and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on the scale of dollars is eliminated.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Husband, Children

  "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967.

• In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Men, Pursuit Of Happiness

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

• I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Politics, Madness, Militarism

  Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood, delivered 26 February 1965

• With all of its false assumptions and evil methods, communism grew as a protest against the hardships of the underprivileged. Communism in theory emphasized a classless society, and a concern for social justice, though the world knows from sad experience that in practice it created new classes and a new lexicon of injustice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Practice, Class

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

• 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

• We must recognize that we can't solve our problems now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power.... a radical restructuring of the architecture of American society.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Political, Society, Politics

• Capitalism is always in danger of inspiring men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life. 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 humanity-thus capitalism can lead to a practical materialism that is as pernicious as the materialism taught by communism.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Men, Judging

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

• Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Lying, Acceptance

  1967 Speech at the Christian leadership conference, Atlanta, 16 Aug.

• Agape means recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all men are brothers. To the degree that I harm my brother, no matter what he is doing to me, to that extent I am harming myself.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Brother, Mean

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

• One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  People, Political, Social Activism

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

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