Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

He [man] knows that when he is not what he ought to be; when he does what he ought not to do; or omits what he ought to do, he is chargeable with sin

In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.

A good man with a good conscience doesn't walk so fast.

In this life, it's not hard to do wrong.

While I was thus carrying out my obligations, I never did anything with which my conscience would have to find fault

The rewards of integrity are immeasurable. One is the indescribable inner peace and serenity that come from knowing we are doing what is right; another is an absence of the guilt and anxiety that accompany sin. Another reward of integrity is the confidence it can give us in approaching God. When virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly, our confidence is strong in the presence of God.

A man should not play the coward to his deeds. He should not repudiate them once he has performed them. Pangs of conscience are indecent.

Not to be cowardly when it comes to our own actions! Not to leave them in the lurch!--The sting of conscience is indecent.

The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying.

What is the most precious thing in the world? I see now that it is the knowledge that you have no part in injustice. Injustice is stronger than you, it always was and always will be, but let it not be done through you.

In the end you should always do the right thing even if it's hard.

We must do what we conceive to be the right thing, and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we are going to be successful. Because if we don't do the right thing, we'll be doing the wrong thing, and we will just be part of the disease, and not a part of the cure.

Is is always time to do the right thing.

Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.

Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion.

Every night I go over what I did in the day, in ethical or moral terms. Have I treated people properly? Did I tell the truth?

Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics.

Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.

Fear is the mother of morality.

Sin, also for those who don't have faith, exists when one goes against one's conscience. To listen to and obey it means, in fact, to decide in face of what is perceived as good or evil. And on this decision pivots the goodness or malice of our action.

The imperative is to define what is right and do it.

My conscience is clear.

There's no statute of limitations on doing what's right.

I'm just doing what my conscience asks me to do.