My favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote - please post yours!

[1776Forever]

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
December 10, 1964, Oslo, Norway:

http://www.mlkonline.net/acceptance.html

[rocktivity]

1. "There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will."

December 11, 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

:patriot:
rocktivity

[1776Forever]

4. Thank you - Found this on Daily Kos posted today concerning this very quote!

"There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/18/83330/3714

MLK's "Dream" of Economic Justice
by democracy8888

MLK's "Dream" of Economic Justice Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 06:07:47 AM PST

If we are serious about developing a more humane economic system in the wake of our nation’s recent woes, it might make sense to reflect on Martin Luther King, Jr’s "dream" of economic justice....King criticized corporate welfare and "business control" of the state, describing the American system as "socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor."

(more at link)

:fistbump:

[noamnety]

2. Letter from a Birmingham Jail

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."

[maryf]

8. Fantastic quote

and sadly still true today...

[rocktivity]

25. I myself have reached the regrettable conclusion

that the liberal's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the Tea Bagger or right-wing radio talk show host, but the Democratic Leadership Council corporate moderate who is more devoted to "profits" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of fighting conservatism to a positive peace which is the presence of economic and social justice; who constantly says: "I'm as liberal as you are, but I cannot afford to agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he should set the timetable for another corportation's bottom line; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises REAL liberals to wait for a "more convenient season.


rocktivity

[maryf]

43. Hear, hear...

far too many spout this tripe, the time is now...

[demmiblue]

11. The more things change...

Wonderful quote. Thanks!

[rateyes]

15. That's my favorite, as well, along with

"Justice delayed is justice denied."

[Robb]

3. "The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent..."

"...but he also refuses to hate him." (Pilgrimage to Nonviolence)

[fl_dem]

5. An individual has not started living until

he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[racaulk]

12. That's the first one I thought of.

One of my all-time favorite quotes from Dr. King. :hi:

[alsame]

17. +1

[99 Percent Sure]

6. "In our society, it is murder, psychologically,

to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are, in a real way, depriving him of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- denying in his case, the very creed of his society."

[1776Forever]

28. How true and sadly today it is so relevant!

Thank you - Let's hope for a better tomorrow!

:hi:

[uponit7771]

44. well

[Brickbat]

7. "All labor has dignity."

MLK is a reminder to me about the power of unions to build all equality -- racial, sexual, economic and class.

[maryf]

9. "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care

is the most shocking and inhumane," Not necessarily my favorite, so many to choose from, but certainly apropos for today...

[ddeclue]

40. +1

[jotsy]

10. This one I think is right for the moment

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. ..."


Someone else posted this ahead of me, don't know how to remove my own, sorry for the repeat/dupe

[Obamanaut]

16. It doesn't hurt to read this one more than once. nt

[maryf]

19. Its worth a repeat!! nt

[1776Forever]

41. Cannot be said enough!

Thank you for posting.

[Fire1]

13. "We were taking the black young men

who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee the liberties in Southeast Asia which had not been found in Southwest Georgia or East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on tv screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit......."

[1776Forever]

42. There was no one else that could speak so clearly to the deficit in our nation at that time.

Thank you for posting this! I lived through that time period and now have sons who have gone to War in Iraq and one going to Afghanistan soon.

[uponit7771]

47. Where can I find these speeches?!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. "I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life

"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." Martin Luther King Jr.

[The_Commonist]

18. "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense...

...than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I wouldn't say it's my "favorite," but it's certainly relevant.

[Ishoutandscream2]

27. Not mine, either, but brilliant nonetheless

[Mari333]

32. [phone]

[Odin2005]

38. I thought it was "spiritual death".

Great quote!

[uponit7771]

45. well

[LWolf]

20. Here are a few,

since I don't have just one favorite:

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

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

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

[happy_liberal]

21. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal"

"It is time for all people of conscience to call upon America to come back home. Come home America."

[happy_liberal]

22. "Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy"

MLK died exactly one year after giving this speech on Vietnam
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7492770











"How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? "
Bob Marley

[kalli007]

23. My favorite line of a speech given by MLK is...

"Take care of your brother, either we go up together or we go down together"

But I have never seen this quoted anywhere, surprising as I think that it has a very simple, yet powerful message.

[Spazito]

24. One of my favorites...

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

and this one as well:

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

[1776Forever]

37. How poignant!

:fistbump:

[struggle4progress]

26. ... We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency

of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out deperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on..." We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation ...

Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
By Rev. Martin Luther King
4 April 1967
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

[1776Forever]

30. Gave me chills! Thank you for sharing - I had not read the entire speech before.

How wonderful this man was and is. I am going to read the entire speech and bookmark it.

:hi:

[SeattleGirl]

29. "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this

period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

This quote inspired my DU sig line.

[1776Forever]

31. Yes - Excellent - Thank you!

:fistbump:

[uponit7771]

46. profetic in a sense

[Divine Discontent]

33. so many great MLK social commentaries, thank you!

how about one from the love of his life - Coretta Scott King


4/1/98

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement," she said. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."

[1776Forever]

36. Thank you - Wonderful quote from the lady by his side through it all.

:grouphug:

[elaineb]

34. "How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

[1776Forever]

35. Thank you - Beautifully Poetic!

O8)

[Odin2005]

39. "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

[hfojvt]

48. this is a good thread that I never saw before

I do not like the usage of some of the quotes though. Some people seem to be looking for MLK quotes to help them attack moderates. Bob Somerby put forward a quote on MLK day and I liked it so much I added it to my signature line.