Martin Luther King Jr.

I am not afraid to die for what I believe in.

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

We are not afraid, and we shall overcome.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?

The time has come for America to hear some honest talk about the problem of racism.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he is not fit to live.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

One day we must ask the question, 'Why are there forty million poor people in America?' And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth.

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and that their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites an even greater repression.

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.

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.

We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.

The church is not a social club, but a spiritual hospital.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.