“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.”

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

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

Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.

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

A right delayed is a right denied.

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

Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.

Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.

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

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.

One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

The time is always right to do the right thing.

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

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

The road to freedom is a difficult, hard road. It always makes for temporary setbacks.

In a free society we will tolerate boorish people, who have abhorrent behavior, but if we’re civilized people we publicly criticize that and don’t belong to those groups or associate with those people.

It is, of course, much easier to shout, abuse, and howl than to attempt to relate, to explain.

I’ve seen my name on marquees and bowed to standing ovations. I’ve also been called a fraud, a mental case, a heretic. People all over the country wait in line to hug me or curse me.

Everybody has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege.

A bitter truth: some people are comfortable with your acceptance of their abuse.⁣

When you go through all your life processing and abusing your hair so it will look like the hair of another race of people then you are making a statement and the statement is clear.

When someone abuses me I can defend myself, but against praise I am defenceless.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but if a woman threatens to kill herself and your unborn child, you are in an emotionally abusive relationship.