From Every Mountain Side, Let Freedom Ring!
THIRTEEN QUOTES BY REV MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
1. "All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."
2. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
3. "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
4. "Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."
5. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
6. "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars...Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
7. "Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality."
8. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
9. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
10. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
11. "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
12. "Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: -'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
13. "...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. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man." This is Rev King's last public speech before being assassinated.
6 Comments:
Oh Martin ...
#13 always gives me chills.
There is a running theme in many of Dr. King's words - that silence and doing nothing are the enemy.
"All it takes for evil to triumph is good men doing nothing" has always been a favorite of mine.
Thank You for sharing his words.
I've been re-reading Soul on Ice. The preface talks about Malcom X and the Panthers giving up on the non-violent approach to rights.
In hindsight, I think King's promise and the fear of Malcom's and the Panthers' potential led to the more equal society that has evolved since the sixties.
Debo - I really appreciated your posting of those wonderful quotes by Dr. King. As great as all those quotes are, my own personal favorites you listed are #7 and #8.
And, those I probably would never have thought of the changes that have taken place over the years in Dave's explanation, I think he may have a good point there about how some things have evolved a good bit. Unfortunately, there's still such a large gap -a long, long way to go.
I love ALL of the quotes, but #s 2,5,6,8,&10 are my faves. thanks for posting them.
Thanks for reminding us. I hope we live to see Dr. King's dream achieved in our day.
Thank You.
Later Y'all.
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