To celebrate MLK Jr. Day, I thought I’d post quotes from his speeches and letters. We’re taking the day off to observe the importance of this day.
When I studied black theology in my graduate school program I was struck by MLK Jr. and his amazing contribution to our country during the 1960s. He was a brilliant orator and has left us with some of the most memorable speeches in our culture; fragments from these letters and speeches continue to challenge us to think and rethink our assumptions even today.
Here are some of his thoughts that might make good copywork this coming week for those who are inspired by them.
—julie
All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
These come from a page of Selected Quotations of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.
Spring will be here soon, I promise! If you don’t already have a copy of A Gracious Space: Spring, click through for timely support and encouragement.
