Martin Luther King Jr.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'

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.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.

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.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

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

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.