Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project
I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the
world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical
realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an
absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate
does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must
have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and
this can only be done through love.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
" Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another."
--Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
"World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built."
----Martin Luther King, Jr., December 1964
At Oslo I suggested that the philosophy and strategy of non-violence become immediately a subject for study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict, including relations between nations. This was not, I believe, an unrealistic suggestion. World peace through non-violent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Non-violence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built. Racial injustice around the world. Poverty. War. When man solves these three great problems he will have squared his moral progress with his scientific progress. And more importantly, he will have learned the practical art of living in harmony.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., "DREAMS OF BRIGHTER TOMORROWS" (March 1965)
"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. Say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things in life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he is traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain."
Excerpted from "The Drum Major
Instinct", a sermon by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968. Available on CD and
print in A Knock At Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend
Martin Luther King, Jr.