I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.
I’m concerned about justice. I’m concerned about brotherhood. I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence.
In every age and every generation, men have envisioned a promised land. Some may have envisioned it with the wrong ideology, with the wrong philosophical presupposition. But men in every generation thought in terms of some promised land.
It is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of high maturity, to rise to the level of self-criticism.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity.
Racial segregation must be seen for what it is, and that is an evil system, a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity.
The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites.
There may be a conflict between softminded religionists and toughminded scientists, but not between science and religion.
We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade.
We must stand up and say, “I’m black and I’m beautiful,” and this self-affirmation is the black man’s need, made compelling by the white man’s crimes against him.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.
Why is the church always a taillight rather than a headlight?
Your self-image should not come from the job you do but from how well you do your job.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Darkness cannot be overcome with more darkness, only with light. Violence cannot be overcome with more violence, only with peace.
I’ve decided to stick with love.
With the tough mind, there must also be a tender heart.
There are always those who say legislation can’t solve the problem. There is a half-truth involved here. It is true that legislation cannot solve the whole problem. It can solve some of the problem. It may be true that morality can’t be legislated, but behavior can be regulated.