Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Brothers

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Motivational, Respect

  Speech at St. Louis, 22 Mar. 1964, in St Louis Post-Dispatch 23 Mar. 1964

• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Men, Challenges

  Strength to Love (1963) ch. 3

• We must all learn to live together as brothers. Or we will all perish together as foolsFor some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Together, Strange

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

• We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Air, Sea

• We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Brother, Yoga

• The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Humility, Men

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

• The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Art, Brother

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.120, Beacon Press

• When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Brother, Anger

• We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers and sisters.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Hands, Justice

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

• Be concerned about your brother...eithe r we go up together, or we go down together.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Together, Concerned

• Through our scientific and technological genius we've made of this world a neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of it a brotherhood. We must all learn to live together as brothers-or we will all perish together as fools.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Commitment, Science

• 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 weaknesses 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.

  Brother, Compassion, Views

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

• We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If todayI lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Country, Brother

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

• If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Change, Sister

• 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

• I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Relationship, Brother, Men

  Quoted in New York Journal-American, 10 Sept. 1962

• Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Children, War

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

• All life is interrelated. The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich; the betterment of the poor enriches the rich. We are inevitably our brother's keeper because we are our brother's brother. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Agony, Justice

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.88, Beacon Press

• 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”

• I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Girl, Dream, Brother

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

• It is my hope that as the Negro plunges deeper into the quest for freedom and justice he will plunge even deeper into the philosophy of non-violence. The Negro all over the South must come to the point that he can say to his white brother: "We will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. We will not hate you, but we will not obey your evil laws. We will soon wear you down by pure capacity to suffer".

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Hate, Philosophy

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

• I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too small in quantity, but they are big in quality.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Brother, White

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.99, Beacon Press

• The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. Religion reminds every man that he is his brother's keeper.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Brother, Men

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

• Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down." --From My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Mother, Brother, Kings

• When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, and to meet the needs of my brothers.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Community, Needs

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

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