Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

Martin [Luther King] wasn't one to buck forces too much.

Rosa Parks was primed, she had the Civil Rights Movement behind her, she didn't just decide to sit on the bus, it was strategic.

[A.J. Muste] was very influenced - in - influential in the peace movement, in the civil rights movement.

All revolutions in history have obstacles. There is not a revolution that succes.

Movement is meditation. Move to win.

Non-co-operation means nothing less than training in self-sacrifice.

A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.

Nonviolence is the rock on which the whole structure of non-co-operation is built.

Non-cooperation is beyond the reach of the bayonet. It has found an abiding place in the Indian heart. Workers like me will go when the hour has struck, but non-cooperation will remain.

Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.

I was delighted with Baku. People said I was completely mad; I was so happy when it all turned out all right.

Opposition is different from terrorism. Opposition is a political movement.

There is a vast need for all types of protest today, whether it be civil disobedience, or whether it be on a - more conventional variety.

Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal - just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination.

It is our experience that the nation doesn't move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.

Many are friends to the success of reformation, not to reformation.

I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. I met Dr. [Martin Luther] King when I was 18. These two individuals inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble. So I got in good trouble, necessary trouble.

A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.

Non-co-operation is the nation's notice that it is no longer satisfied to be in tutelage.

What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You had blacks and whites coming together and sacrificing, organizing and mobilizing the world. That's the first time we've had collective action put at the center of any kind of portrayal of Martin King on the screen.

I want to be a jazzman until the day I die. To help keep that motion, momentum and movement going, for myself, for my students, for the people who hear me. Oh sure, some days you look around at this country and look at the evidence and think, Oh Lord, don't look good. But you keep moving. You gotta keep moving.

Non-co-operation enables us to show that in everything that matters we can be independent of the Government.

This is what happens when you take a step: you are moving closer to what you want.

When I was 16, the guest speaker was King. And I was completely overwhelmed because I had been studying nonviolence, talking about it, reading about it, but here it was happening, here it was people boycotting the buses and people on the streets and taking risks, which I think was the key.

Opposing what's wrong is a halfway measure at best. A rebel must also have a vision for something better, a strategy for moving toward that vision and a capacity to rally and join with others in achieving it. If the anger that drives rebellion is not transformed into the hope that inspires movement communities, it will do more harm than good.