Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

At night always carry in your heart something from Holy Scriptures to bed with you, meditate upon it like a ruminant animal, and go softly to sleep; but this must not be too much, rather a little that may be well pondered and understood, that you may find a remnant of it in your mind when you rise in the morning.

Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force... If we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has the right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.

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.

The time is always right to do what is right.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.

Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

Who loves not wine, women and song, Remains a fool his whole life long.

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

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Here stand I. I can do no other.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

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.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

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.'

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values -- that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen.

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, 'Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.'

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.

We have flown the air like birds and swum the seas like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

It is pleasing to God whenever you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.

God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.

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

You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.

The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

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.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

...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.

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.

The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask. Yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.

Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

Pray, and let God worry.

Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.

If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there.

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

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.

Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.

Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

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

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

We must use time creatively.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.