Martin Luther King, Jr.

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.

It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.

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

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

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

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

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.

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

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

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.