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The Use Of Violence In Our Struggle Would Be Both Impractical And Immoral. To Meet Hate With Retaliatory Hate Would Do Nothing But Intensify The Existence Of Evil In The Universe. Hate Begets Hate; Violence Begets Violence; Toughness Begets A Greater Toughness. We Must Meet The Forces Of Hate With The Power Of Love; We Must Meet Physical Force With Soul Force. Our Aim Must Never Be To Defeat Or Humiliate The White Man, But To Win His Friendship And Understanding.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Use Of Violence

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Use Of Violence In Our Struggle Would Be Both Impractical And Immoral. To Meet Hate With Retaliatory Hate Would Do Nothing But Intensify The Existence Of Evil In The Universe. Hate Begets Hate; Violence Begets Violence; Toughness Begets A Greater Toughness. We Must Meet The Forces Of Hate With The Power Of Love; We Must Meet Physical Force With Soul Force. Our Aim Must Never Be To Defeat Or Humiliate The White Man, But To Win His Friendship And Understanding.

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From My Christian Formation've Gotten My Ideals And Technique Gandhi Action

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Perhaps The Worst Sin In Life Is Knowing Right And Not Doing It.

To Dislocate The Functioning Of A City Without Destroying It Can Be More Effective Than A Riot Because It Can Be Longer-lasting, Costly To The Society But Not Wantonly Destructive, Moreover, It Is More Difficult For Government To Quell It By Superior Force.

Cowardice Is Submissive Surrender To Circumstances.

Gandhi Was Inevitable. If Humanity Is To Progress, Gandhi Is Inescapable. He Lived, Thought And Acted, Inspired By The Vision Of Humanity Evolving Toward A World Of Peace And Harmony. We May Ignore Gandhi At Our Own Risk.

We Are Called Upon To Help The Discouraged Beggars In Life's Marketplace. But One Day We Must Come To See That An Edifice Which Produces Beggars Needs Restructuring.

We Must Meet The Forces Of Hate With The Power Of Love.

We Can Dream Of An America, And A World, In Which Love And Not Money Are Civilization's Bottom Line.

The Most Dangerous Type Of Atheism Is Not Theoretical Atheism, But Practical Atheism -that's The Most Dangerous Type. And The World, Even The Church, Is Filled Up With People Who Pay Lip Service To God And Not Life Service. And There Is Always A Danger That We Will Make It Appear Externally That We Believe In God When Internally We Don't. We Say With Our Mouths That We Believe In Him, But We Live With Our Lives Like He Never Existed. That Is The Ever-present Danger Confronting Religion. That's A Dangerous Type Of Atheism.

The Supreme Task Is To Organize And Unite People So That Their Anger Becomes A Transforming Force.

Hate Multiplies Hate, Violence Multiplies Violence, And Toughness Multiplies Toughness In A Descending Spiral Of Destruction.

I Decide On The Basis Of Conscience. A Genuine Leader Doesn't Reflect Consensus, He Molds Consensus.

Power Without Love Is Reckless And Abusive, And Love Without Power Is Sentimental And Anemic. Power At Its Best Is Love Implementing The Demands Of Justice, And Justice At Its Best Is Power Correcting Everything That Stands Against Love.

They Asked If Our Own Nation Wasn't Using Massive Doses Of Violence To Solve Its Problems, To Bring About The Changes It Wanted. Their Questions Hit Home, And I Knew That I Could Never Again Raise My Voice Against The Violence Of The Oppressed In The Ghettos Without Having First Spoken Clearly To The Greatest Purveyor Of Violence In The World Today-my Own Government. For The Sake Of Those Boys, For The Sake Of This Government, For The Sake Of Hundreds Of Thousands Trembling Under Our Violence, I Cannot Be Silent.

We Must Speak With All The Humility That Is Appropriate To Our Limited Vision, But We Must Speak.

Breaking Silence

I Think One Can Live In American Society With A Certain Cultural Heritage, Whether It's An African Heritage Or Other, European,what Have You, And Still Absorb A Great Deal Of This Culture. There Is Always Cultural Assimilation.

Men Often Hate Each Other Because They Fear Each Other; They Fear Each Other Because They Don't Know Each Other; They Don't Know Each Other Because They Can Not Communicate; They Can Not Communicate Because They Are Separated.

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Our Lives Are Not Fully Lived If We're Not Willing To Die For Those We Love, For What We Believe.

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If America's Soul Becomes Totally Poisoned, Part Of The Autopsy Must Read Vietnam. It Can Never Be Saved So Long As It Destroys The Hopes Of Men The World Over.

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There Is Nothing In All The World Greater Than Freedom. It Is Worth Paying For; It Is Worth Going To Jail For. I Would Rather Be A Free Pauper Than A Rich Slave. I Would Rather Die In Abject Poverty With My Convictions Than Live In Inordinate Riches With The Lack Of Self Respect.

The Labor Movement Was The Principal Force That Transformed Misery And Despair Into Hope And Progress.

Be Concerned About Your Brother...eithe R We Go Up Together, Or We Go Down Together.

May I Stress The Need For Courageous, Intelligent, And Dedicated Leadership... Leaders Of Sound Integrity. Leaders Not In Love With Publicity, But In Love With Justice. Leaders Not In Love With Money, But In Love With Humanity. Leaders Who Can Subject Their Particular Egos To The Greatness Of The Cause.

The Ultimate Solution To The Race Problem Lies In The Willingness Of Men To Obey The Unenforceable.

Education Must Enable One To Sift And Weigh Evidence, To Discern The True From The False, The Real From The Unreal, And The Facts From The Fiction.

The Group Consisting Of Mother, Father And Child Is The Main Educational Agency Of Mankind.

I Would Urge You To Give Priority To The Search For God. Allow His Spirit To Permeate Your Being. ... If You Do Not Have A Deep And Patient Faith In God, You Will Be Powerless To Face The Delays, Disappointments, And Vicissitudes That Inevitably Come.

The Art Of Acceptance Is The Art Of Making Someone Who Has Just Done You A Small Favor Wish That He Might Have Done You A Greater One.

Faith Is Taking The First Step Even When You Don't See The Whole Staircase.

In Any Civilized Society, It Is Every Citizen's Responsibility To Obey Just Laws. But At The Same Time, It Is Every Citizen's Responsibility To Disobey Unjust Laws.

Violence Often Brings About Momentary Results.

One Who Condones Evils Is Just As Guilty As The One Who Perpetrates It.

Join With The Earth And Each Other, To Bring New Life To The Land, To Restore The Waters, To Refresh The Air, To Renew The Forests, To Care For The Plants, To Protect The Creatures, To Celebrate The Seas, To Rejoice In The Sunlight, To Sing The Song Of The Stars, To Recall Our Destiny, To Renew Our Spirits, To Reinvigorate Our Bodies, To Recreate The Human Community, To Promote Justice And Peace, To Love Our Children And Love One Another, To Join Together As Many And Diverse Expressions Of One Loving Mystery, For The Healing Of The Earth And The Renewal Of All Life.

Mother Dear, One Day I'm Going To Turn This World Upside Down." --from My Brother Martin, By Christine King Farris

The Choice Is Not Between Violence And Nonviolence But Between Nonviolence And Nonexistence.

War Is A Poor Chisel To Carve Out Tomorrow.

The Contemporary Church Is So Often A Weak, Ineffectual Voice With An Uncertain Sound. It Is So Often The Arch Supporter Of The Status Quo.

Lord Help Me To See M. L. King As M. L. King In His True Perspective.

You Have To Keep Moving Forward

Keep Moving Forward

The Truth May Hurt, But Love Helps Ease The Pain.

Why Should There Be Hunger And Deprivation In Any Land, In Any City, At Any Table, When Man Has The Resources And The Scientific Know-how To Provide All Mankind With The Basic Necessities Of Life? There Is No Deficit In Human Resources. The Deficit Is In Human Will.

He (jesus) Knew That The Old Eye-for-eye Philosophy Would Leave Everyone Blind. He Did Not Seek To Overcome Evil With Evil. He Overcame Evil With Good. Although Crucified By Hate, He Responded With Aggressive Love.

When We Allow Freedom Ring, When We Let It Ring From Every Village And Every Hamlet, From Every State And Every City...

I Have A Dream Speech

You Only Need A Heart Full Of Grace

What Is More Tragic Than To See A Person Who Has Risen To The Disciplined Heights Of Tough-mindedness But Has At The Same Time Sunk To The Passionless Depths Of Hard-heartedness?

Segregation...not Only Harms One Physically But Injures One Spiritually...it Scars The Soul...it Is A System Which Forever Stares The Segregated In The Face, Saying 'you Are Less Than...''you Are Not Equal To...'

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.

Beloved Community

Shallow Understanding From People Of Good Will Is More Frustrating Than Absolute Misunderstanding From People Of Ill Will.

Let's Build Bridges, Not Walls.

Hatred Paralyzes Life; Love Releases It.

All Life Is Interrelated. The Agony Of The Poor Impoverishes The Rich; The Betterment Of The Poor Enriches The Rich. We Are Inevitably Our Brother's Keeper Because We Are Our Brother's Brother. Whatever Affects One Directly Affects All Indirectly.

I'm Very Glad Christ Tells Us To Love Our Neighbor And Not To Like Our Neighbor Because It's Hard To Like Someone Threatening Your Children And Throwing Fire Bombs Through Your Window, But He Asks Us To Love Them And That I Can Do

War Is The Greatest Plague That Can Afflict Mankind... Any Scourge Is Preferable To It.

Often The Oppressor Goes Along Unaware Of The Evil Involved In His Oppression So Long As The Oppressed Accepts It.

When People Get Caught Up With That Which Is Right And They Are Willing To Sacrifice For It, There Is No Stopping Point Short Of Victory.

We Must Rapidly Begin The Shift From A "thing-oriented" Society To A "person-oriented" Society. When Machines And Computers, Profit Motives And Property Rights Are Considered More Important Than People, The Giant Triplets Of Racism, Materialism, And Militarism Are Incapable Of Being Conquered.

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Liberty Hyde Bailey

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