The churchmen who felt they had an edict from God to withstand the progress of science, whether in the form of a Copernican revolution, were not mischievous men but misinformed men.

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.

People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Mankind must put and end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

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

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

What is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy.

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

I came to the conclusion that there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself; nobody else can speak for you.

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

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

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

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.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

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

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

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

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.

There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.

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

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

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

Today we no longer have a choice between violence and nonviolence; it is either nonviolence or nonexistence.

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

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

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

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service.

You will change your mind; You will change your looks; You will change your smile, laugh, and ways but no matter what you change, you will always be you.

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

A riot is the language of the unheard.

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.

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

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

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.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

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

Only in the darkness can you see the stars.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

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

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

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.

Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

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

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.

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

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.

We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

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.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.