Martin Luther King Jr. is an American president of African descent, a humanitarian political activist, and one of the people calling for an end to the triumphalist privilege over blacks. He is the youngest person to win the Nobel Prize and he is one of the most important figures who worked for freedom and human rights. Here in this article I have collected for you Some of Martin's sayings.
Sayings of Martin Luther King
- At the end we will not remember our enemies words, but our friends silence.
- There is nothing in the whole world more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Nothing in the world is more dangerous than pure ignorance and willful stupidity.
- Hate paralyzes life, love releases it; Hatred confuses life, and love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life, and love illuminates it.
- The great tragedy is not the persecution and violence committed by evil people, but the silence of good people.
- Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend.
- Faith is taking the first step even if you can't see the whole staircase.
- It may be true that the law cannot make a person love me, but it can prevent him from executing me falsely, and this, I believe, is extremely important.
- I confess to you that if a person does not discover something that he can die defending, then he is not worthy of life.
- Peace is not a distant goal that we seek, but it is also a means by which we reach this goal.
- No one can ride your back unless you bend.
- We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.
- Don't let anyone drag you down to the point that you hate them.
- The end of our lives begins the day we become silent about the things that matter.
- Apartheid is a forbidden crime of adultery between injustice and eternity.
- When you are right, you cannot be extreme enough, but when you are wrong, you cannot be conservative enough.
- Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- We do not make history, but history makes us.
- All progress is valuable, and solving one problem confronts another.
- Our scientific power has exceeded our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and unguided men.
- No one can ride your back unless you bend.
- Hate paralyzes life, love releases it; Hatred confuses life, and love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life, and love...
- At the end we will not remember our enemies words, but our friends silence.
- It may be true that the law cannot make a person love me, but it can prevent him from executing me falsely, and this, I believe, is extremely important.
- Don't let anyone drag you down to the point that you hate them.
- Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- I confess to you that if a person does not discover something that he can die defending, then he is not worthy of life.
- Our scientific power has exceeded our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and unguided men.
- Peace is not a distant goal we seek, but it is also a means by which we reach this goal.
- Riot is the language of the unheard.
- The means we use must be as pure as the end we seek.
- What matters is not the length of one's life, but its quality.
Positions of Martin Luther King
- From a sermon dated February 4, 1968: Jesus Christ has given us new wisdom about greatness. Do you want to become an important person? This is a wonderful thing. Do you want people to appreciate you? This is a wonderful thing. Do you want to become a great person? This is a wonderful thing. But know that whoever wants to be the greatest among you must be your servant. This is your new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing I see through this definition is that anyone can be great, because everyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You do not have to make the verb and the subject compatible in your words in order to serve. You don't have to learn anything about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don't have to learn Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to learn the second law of thermodynamics in physics to serve. All you need is a heart filled with divine grace, and a spirit created by love. You can then become that servant.
- From a speech to the African American Civil Rights Organization: In some situations, cowardice asks you this question: “Is this safe work?” Decency asks you: “Is this a decent thing to do?” He brags with them and asks you: “Is this a popular job?” But conscience asks its question: “Is this a correct action?” There comes a time when a person must take a position that is neither safe, nor fit, nor lovable, but he must do it because his conscience tells him it is right.
- Speech at Riverside Church in New York State on April 4, 1967: I am certain that if we want to be on the right side of the global revolution, we must go through a revolution to reform our values and principles from their roots. We must quickly begin to transform our society from one with “materialistic orientations” to one with “humanistic orientations.” When machines, computers, profit motives, and property rights are more important than people, it becomes impossible to conquer the giant triplets: racism, materialism, and military politics. Because once there is a real revolution in our values, it will immediately make us look closely at many of our policies in the past and present and wonder whether they are fair and just. On the one hand, we are called to play the role of the Good Samaritan on the edge of life's road (to help the man who was attacked on the edge of the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan); But this is just the beginning of the work. A day will come when we must see the entire Jericho Road (that is, the entire country) transformed so that men and women are no longer constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey down any path in life. True compassion is more than just throwing a coin to a beggar; It is not a random and superficial act. True mercy sees that this great edifice that produces beggars needs rebuilding and repair
- Speech at Riverside Church in New York State on April 4, 1967: There will come a time when silence is traitor. Because people do not easily undertake the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in times of war, even if they are incited by the demands of divine right. Nor does the human spirit move easily against the various types of indifference or apathy that characterize the approach of going with the flow and keeping pace with people, whether this approach is within the human heart or in the world surrounding it.
- Martin Luther King, 1963: We have learned to fly in the air like birds and dive in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simplest art, which is the art of living together as brothers and sisters.
- Oslo, Norway, December 11, 1964: Using violence as a means of achieving justice is an impractical and immoral approach. It is impractical because it is like a downward spiral, which only ends with the destruction of everyone. The ancient law of “an eye for an eye” makes everyone blind. Violence is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opposing party rather than gain its understanding; He seeks to annihilate it instead of converting it. Violence is immoral because it is fueled by hatred, not love. It destroys the fraternal community and makes the achievement of fraternity impossible. Then it leaves behind a society in which speech is limited to one party instead of dialogue that exists between all parties. Violence ends up eliminating itself. Because it creates bitter resentment among its survivors and brutality among its destroyers.
- From the book The Power Needed for Love: I would be the last to condemn the thousands of honest and dedicated people outside the churches who are making selfless efforts in various humanitarian movements to address the social evils of the world, because I would prefer someone committed to humanitarian work to someone who is not a committed Christian.
- From an open letter from the Birmingham City Jail in Alabama: I submit that every citizen who engages in civil disobedience to the law when his conscience tells him that the law is unjust, and who is willing to endure imprisonment in order to awaken the conscience of society to its injustice, is in fact expressing his utmost respect. For the law.
- February 4, 1968: If any of you are alive the day I leave, I don't want long funeral services. If you ask someone to give a eulogy, tell him not to make it too long. Tell him not to mention that I have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Because this is not important. Tell him not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards. Because it's not important. Tell him not to mention the school you attended.
- But I would like someone to mention on that day that Martin Luther King sought to devote his life to serving others. I would like someone to say on that day that Martin Luther King sought to love others. And I want you to say on that day that I sought to be right about the war. And I want you to be able to say that day, I tried to feed the hungry. I would like you to be able to say on that day, that I had tried in my life to clothe the naked. I would like you to say on that day that I had tried in my life to visit prisoners. I would like you to say on that day, that I have sought to love and serve humanity.
