Martin Luther King, Jr.

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.

It is quite easy for me to think of a God of love mainly because I grew up in a family where love was central and where lovely relationships were ever present.

My parents would always tell me that I should not hate the white man, but that it was my duty as a Christian to love him.

I've told the kids in the ghettos that violence won't solve their problems, but then they ask me, and rightly so; "Why does the government use massive doses of violence to bring about the change it wants in the world?" After this I knew that I could no longer speak against the violence in the ghettos without also speaking against the violence of my government.

There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of soft mindedness. A nation or a civilization that continues to produce soft minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.

Riots are the voices of the unheard.

We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization.

We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.

Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here.

Nothing is so much needed as a secure family life for a people seeking to rise out of poverty and backwardness.

I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life that regulates not only my dealings in the struggle for racial justice, but also my dealings with people, and with my own self.

I may not be the man I want to be; I may not be the man I ought to be; I may not be the man I could be; I may not be the man I truly can be; but praise God, I'm not the man I once was

Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

The great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.

Be true to what you said on paper.

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

In Christ there is no East nor West.

My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

Lord help me to see M. L. King as M. L. King in his true perspective.