Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Revolution

• One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Change, Sleep

• A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Moving, People, Movement

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

• The more there are riots, the more repressive actin will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wings, Faces, Revolution

• A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies... True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look on uneasily upon the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Compassion, Justice, Coins

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.119, Beacon Press

• We are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution. The world in which we live is geographically one.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Sleep, Perspective, Environmental

• Riots are the voices of the unheard.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Voice, Revolution, Riot

• The Christians who engaged in infamous persecutions and shameful inquisitions were not evil men but misguided men. The churchmen who felt they had an edict from God to withstand the progress of science, whether in the form of a Copernican revolution or a Darwinian theory of natural selection, were not mischievous men but misinformed men. And so Christ's words from the cross are written in sharp-edged terms across some of the most inexpressible tragedies of history: 'They know not what they do'.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Science, Men

• In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Civil Rights, Revolution, Retreat

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.99, Beacon Press

• A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Justice, Breaking Silence, Revolution

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.119, Beacon Press

• 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

• This Revolution is genuine because it was born from the same womb that always gives birth to massive social upheavals - the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Giving, Upheaval, Revolution

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.98, Beacon Press

• For years, I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions in the South, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of the entire system, a revolution of values.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Years, Ideas

• Three simple words can describe the nature of the social revolution that is talking place and what Negroes really want. They are the words "all," "now," and "here."

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Simple, Talking, Want

• A true revolution of values will see that the western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Feelings, Arrogance, Breaking Silence

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.119, Beacon Press

• In the event of a violent revolution, we would be sorely outnumbered. And when it was all over, the Negro would face the same unchanged conditions, the same squalor and deprivation-the only difference being that his bitterness would be even more intense, his disenchantment even more abject. Thus, in purely practical as well as moral terms, the American Negro has no rational alternative to nonviolence.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Differences, Revolution, Events

• I think a revolution can survive without single centralized leadership.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Thinking, Revolution

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• The sooner our society admits that the Negro Revolution is no momentary outburst soon to subside into placid passivity, the easier the future will be for us all.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Our Society, Revolution, Easier

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.99, Beacon Press

• I think if we, say, if all of the major leaders in this struggle [for human's rights] were at, at war with each other, then I think it would be very difficult to make this social revolution the kind of powerful revolution that it's proved to be.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Powerful, War, Struggle

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I think there can be a collective leadership. Maybe some symbolize the struggle [for human's rights] a little more than others, but I think it's absolutely necessary for the leadership to be united in order to make the revolution effective.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Thinking, Order

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Breaking Silence, World, Revolution

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

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