Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Values

• Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Beautiful, Hate, Cancer

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

• Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  True Power, Sophistry, Action

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

• If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Spiritual, Reality, African American

  "Rediscovering Lost Values". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Sermon at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. February 28, 1954.

• One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Dream, Children

  "Why we can't wait".

• 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

• Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential. Social action without education is a weak expression of pure energy. Deeds uninformed by educated thought can take false directions. When we go into action and confront our adversaries, we must be as armed with knowledge as they. Our policies should have the strength of deep analysis beneath them to be able to challenge the clever sophistries of our opponents.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Clever, True Power, Expression

• The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Reality, Law

  Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church. YouTube Channel "nicholasflyer"/"Martin Luther King Jr. 'Rediscovering Lost Values' February 28, 1954", www.youtube.com. September 24, 2015.

• Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power, religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts, religion deals with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Men, Two

  "Strength to Love". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr. Ch. 1 : A tough mind and a tender heart, 1963.

• 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

• The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Sad, Justice, Elbows

• If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that's positive for
  them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire and
  it has to be presented in a compelling way so that they feel inspired to
  follow.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Moving, Parenting, Important Values

• 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

• There is something in this universe that justifies the biblical writer in saying, "You shall reap what you sow." This is a law-abiding universe. This is a moral universe. It hinges on moral foundations. If we are to make of this a better world, we've got to go back and rediscover that precious value that we've left behind.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Biblical, Law

  "Rediscovering Lost Values". Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, February 28, 1954.

• My friends, all I'm trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we've got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we've left behind. That's the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Real, Our World

  "Rediscovering Lost Values". Sermon delivered at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, February 28, 1954.

• Without denying the value of scientific endeavor, there is a striking absurdity in committing billions to reach the moon where no people live, while only a fraction of that amount is appropriated to service the densely populated slums.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Moon, People, Fractions

• 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

• 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

• Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Two, Rivals, Facts

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

• 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

• Education without direction is a one-sided social value. Direct action without education is a meaningless expression of pure energy.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Direct Action, Social Values, Expression

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