Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.
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.
The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.
The curse of poverty has no justification in our age.
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.
The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
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.
The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But, the way of nonviolence leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved community.
How hard it is for people to live without someone to look down upon-really to look down upon. It is not just that they feel cheated out of someone to hate. It is that they are compelled to look more closely into themselves and what they don’t like about themselves.
Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.
Our children need our presence, not our presents.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.
We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.
I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity.