Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Justice

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

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.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Justice part 2

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Love is the most durable power in the world.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a sword that heals.

When you are right, you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.