Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Evil

• The time is always right to do what is right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Positive, Inspiring

  "This Dallas Boy's MLK Jr. Speech Is Such A Sweet Message For Today's World" by Sarah Friedmann, www.bustle.com. January 2018.

• 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.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Being Strong, Peace

  Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 10 Dec. 1964

• He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Forgiveness, Wise

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.64, Beacon Press

• When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life Changing, Men, Evil

• When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dark, Power, Night

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

• Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Cutting, Men

  "Loving Your Enemies". Speech delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

• 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. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Courage, Integrity, Destiny

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

• He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Acceptance, Evil, Historical

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

• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. 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.

  Peace, Kings, Fear

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

• By opening our lives to God in Christ, we become new creatures. This experience, which Jesus spoke of as the new birth, is essential if we are to be transformed nonconformists . . . Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Spiritual, Jesus

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.18, Beacon Press

• He (Jesus) knew that the old eye-for-eye philosophy would leave everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Jesus, Philosophy, Hate

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

• Black Power is a nihilistic philosophy born out of the conviction that the Negro can't win... the view that American society is so hopelessly corrupt and enmeshed in evil that there is no possibility of salvation from within.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Philosophy, Winning, Views

• Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Love Is, Men

  "Loving Your Enemies". Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

• We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Relationship, Inspiring

  "Loving Your Enemies" by Martin Luther King, Jr., Christmas, 1957.

• To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Evil, Good And Evil

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

• I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Hate, War

• I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Writing, Ideas, Evil

• Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Forgiveness, New Beginnings, Mean

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.65, Beacon Press

• One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust ... is in reality expressing the highest respect for law ... We will not obey your evil laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Reality, Law, Evil

• The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Real, Racism, Evil

  "Yes, the Martin Luther King Jr. Estate Approved That Ram Trucks Super Bowl Ad" by April Glaser, slate.com. February 4, 2018.

• Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Hate, War

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

• We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Hero, Evil

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.26, Beacon Press

• The problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  War, Racism, Evil

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2015). “The Radical King”, p.103, Beacon Press

• We will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Mean, Cutting

• There may come a time when it will be possible for you to humiliate your worst enemy or even to defeat him, but in order to love the enemy you must not do it... The Greek language has another word [for love]. It calls it agape. Agape is more than romantic love. Agape is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men. Agape is an overflowing love, a spontaneous love, which seeks nothing in return. And theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. When you rise to love on this level you love all men, not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, not because they are worthful to you, but you love all men because God loves them. And you rise to the noble heights of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. And I think this is what Jesus means when he says, “Love your enemies.”

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Jesus, Hate

  "Loving Your Enemies". Sermon Delivered at the Detroit Council of Churches' Noon Lenten Services, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. March 07, 1961.

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