Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

The force generated by nonviolence is infinitely greater than the force of all the arms created by man's ingenuity.

It is nonviolent non-co-operation which evokes the highest spirit of self-sacrifice that will wean one from the error of one's ways.

Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies... for what we are doing is right, what we are doing is just -- and God is with us.

Our aim is not to do things by violence to opponents.

The strength to kill is not essential for self-defense; one ought to have the strength to die. When a man is fully ready to die, he will not even desire to offer violence. Indeed, I may put it down as a self-evident proposition that the desire to kill is in inverse proportion to the desire to die. And history is replete with instances of men who by dying with courage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violent opponents.

Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence.

Indeed the very word, nonviolence, a negative word, means that it is an effort to abandon the violence that is inevitable in life.

Sometimes when we're incensed by the rancid tide of injustice, the impulse is to attack. We must avoid this. We have learned that violence as a means is always unsuccessful.

Nonviolence to be worth anything has to work in the face of hostile forces.

The struggle with evil by means of violence is the same as an attempt to stop a cloud, in order that there may be no rain.

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

Nonviolent action, born of the awareness of suffering and nurtured by love, is the most effective way to confront adversity.

Nonviolence is a universal law acting under all circumstances.

A satyagrahi exhausts all other means before he resorts to satyagraha.

The world censures those who take up arms to defend their causes and calls on them to use nonviolent means in voicing their grievances. But when a people chooses the nonviolent path, it is all too often the case that hardly anyone pays attention. It is tragic that people have to suffer and die and the television cameras have to deliver the pictures to people's homes every day before the world at large admits there is a problem.

Active nonviolence of the brave puts to flight thieves, dacoits, murderers, and prepares an army of volunteers ready to sacrifice themselves in quelling riots, in extinguishing fires and feuds, and so on.

This is the philosophy of nonviolence that I have learned from Gandhi, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa.

Nonviolence is a universal principle and its operation is not limited by a hostile environment.

The power of unarmed nonviolence is any day far superior to that of armed force.

Nonviolence is an imperative in order to bring about ultimate community.

My satyagrahi spirit tells me that I may not retaliate.

In the dictionary of satyagraha, there is no enemy.

I don't have much time for real violence at all. I think there are infinitely better ways of changing the world than using violence. Sitting round a table talking is a pretty good start.

For a satyagrahi brigade only those are eligible who believe in ahimsa and satya.

It is claimed for satyagraha that it is a complete substitute for violence or war.