Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.
I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
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.
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.
The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.
A right delayed is a right denied.
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
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.