Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

The thought that we're in competition with Russians or with Chinese is all a mistake, and trivial. We are one species, with a world to win.

Peace in the world is everybody's business, no matter where you live or what you do.

We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our loyalty to our own country.

The goal of the World Federalists is peace through unity of government. We must support their vision of oneness in diversity, for it is the salvation of mankind.

World Government is not only possible, it is inevitable; and when it comes, it will appeal to patriotism in its truest sense,in its only sense, the patriotism of humans who love their national heritages so deeply that they wish to preserve them in safety for the common good.

We need to assert our allegiance to the human race, and not to any one nation.

The concept of patriotism is not incompatible with that of humanity; on the contrary, let me state emphatically that he who best serves pacifism serves patriotism best. The nation is and can be no more than the vital basic unit of any international league.

The burden for achieving disarmament cannot be borne by peace groups alone. Everybody, regardless of age, income, profession, gender or nationality, has a stake in this quest.

The great men of a nation reach out to all mankind. They are unifying, not divisive; internationally conciliating and still great nationally.

As to the first, I do not know that I have done very much myself to promote fraternity between nations but I do know that there can be no more important purpose for any man's activity or interests.

Only when every one of us and every nation learns the secret of love for all mankind will the world become a great orchestra, following the beat of the Greatest Conductor of all.

The greatest gain of this conflict between Democracy and Fascism lies in the fact that it has drawn together everything that was good in humanity. The unity of the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain is the best guarantee to the peoples of the world that Nazi horrors will never again be repeated.

The real need of the day is ... moral and spiritual rearmament ... God's Living Spirit can transcend conflicting political systems, can reconcile order and freedom, can rekindle true patriotism, can unite all citizens in the service of the nation, and all nations in the service of mankind.

International policy does not aim at exploiting local, specific conditions to widen zones of influence and create difficulties for another country. The goal of international policy is to insure universal fulfillment of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" and to prevent a sharpening of international tensions and a strengthening of militarist and nationalist tendencies.

The isolationists are preparing again to play somewhat the same role they played at the end of World War I. They are idealists, but they do not want to pay the price of practical idealism or of peace for the world. They still believe that the United States can prosper all alone, can have peace all alone, can be a little island apart from the rest of the world.

Like all peoples, Russian millions share our longing for a friendly and peaceful world.

Thus may be envisioned a United States of the World. Ultimately, it will surely come.

Even though we may focus first on the rights of our own country, that does not mean that we should disregard the rights of everyone else.

We have people around the world who live in the United States, and these people don't deserve to be called traitors.

I believe that our communities can benefit if they know about and participate in the U.N.'s various human rights forums.

I'd like to see the whole world.

More and more, the choice for the world's people is between becoming world warriors or world citizens.

There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.

We are not wholly patriotic when we are working with all our heart for America merely; we are truly patriotic only when we are working also that America may take her place worthily and helpfully in the world of nations . . . Interdependence is the keynote of the relations of nations as it is the keynote of the relations of individuals within nations.

Nationalism will keep its venom until we succeed in creating an image of the nations of the whole world as so many provinces.