Martin Luther King Jr.

"Let us be dissatisfied until every man can have access to the fullness of life."

"We are dying from a poverty of vision and abundance of things."

"The real problem is that through our scientific genius we've made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we've failed to make of it a brotherhood."

"When evil men plot, good men must plan."

"The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state."

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

"I believe that the Negro must work to overcome the humiliating and devastating poverty in his community."

"Change has its enemies, for the reason that the profits accrued to some from the present system are colossal."

"We must make a choice: nonviolence or nonexistence."

"The spirit of ubuntu—that profound African sense that we are human only through the humanity of other people—is not negotiable."

"To abandon peaceful protest now would be to abandon the purpose of the movement and substitute for it black nationalism."

"I believe that misguidedly, but sincere, white Americans can be allies of the Negro cause."

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

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

"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."

"I've come to believe that there is something profoundly wrong with the way we live daily in America."

"All labor has dignity, regardless of the station in life one holds."

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"If you can't fly, then run; if you can't run, then walk; if you can't walk, then crawl."

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

"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."

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

"Lightning makes no distinction between a tall tree and a short one."

"The purpose of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically."

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

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

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality."

"The most important step in solving a problem is finding the courage to face it."