Inspirational Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The false society of men— —for earthly greatness All heavenly comforts rarefies to air.”

“Они просто нису знали како да поступају са мном, па су се понашали као неваспитани људи. У свакој претњи и у свакој похвали била је једна велика грешка. Мислили су да је моја највећа жеља да будем с друге стране зида. Нисам могао а да се не смешим кад сам видео како савесно закључавају врата за мојим размишљањима, која су изашла за њима без препрека, а у ствари су само она била опасна. Како нису могли да ухвате мене, одлучили су да казне моје тело, баш као дечаци који, кад не могу да се дочепају особе на коју су кивни, муче њеног пса. Видео сам да је држава глупа, да је плашљива као усамљена жена која се боји за своје сребрне кашике, и да не разликује пријатеље од непријатеља, и изгубио сам оно мало поштовања према њој и сажаљевао је.”

“By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man's morning work in this world?”

“Нам внушают преувеличенное понятие о важности нашей работы, а между тем, как много мы оставляем несделанным!”

“What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day?”

“Устај безбрижно пре зоре и тражи пустоловине. Нека те подне затекне поред других језера, а тамо где те ноћ затекне нека ти буде кућа. Нема већих поља од ових, ни вреднијих игара од оних које се овде могу играти. Расти дивље у складу са својом природом, попут ове шаше и папрати који неће никад постати енглеска трава. Нека пуцају громови; шта ако прете уништењем фармерове летине? То није њихова порука теби. Заклони се под облак док сви беже у кола и шупе. Не допусти да ти живот буде занат, него нека буде забава. Уживај земљу, а не поседуј је.”

“But as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love? “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice—“Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ—“I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist—“Here I stand; I can do none other so help me God.” Was not John Bunyan an extremist—“I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist—“We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.” So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice—or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”

“You must live within yourself, and depend upon yourself always tucked up and ready for a start, and not have many affairs.”

“I am resolved that I will not through humility become the devil’s attorney.”

“But already a change is taking place, owing, not to an increased humanity, but to an increased scarcity of game, for perhaps the hunter is the greatest friend of the animals hunted, not excepting the Humane Society.”

“Каждое поколение смеется над модами предыдущего, но благоговейно следует новым”

“Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?”

“For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done for ever.”

“We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire.”

“Confucius said, “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

“The very simplicity and nakedness of man’s life in the primitive ages imply this advantage at least, that they left him still but a sojourner in nature. When he was refreshed with food and sleep he contemplated his journey again. He dwelt, as it were, in a tent in this world, and was either threading the valleys, or crossing the plains, or climbing the mountain tops. But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. The man who independently plucked the fruits when he was hungry is become a farmer; and he who stood under a tree for shelter, a housekeeper.”

“We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb. The best works of art are the expression of man’s struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten.”

“By closing the eyes and slumbering, and consenting to be deceived by shows, men establish and confirm their daily life of routine and habit everywhere, which still is built on purely illusory foundations. Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure.”

“La oscuridad no puede conducirte fuera de la oscuridad: sólo la luz puede hacer eso. El odio no puede conducirte fuera del odio; sólo el amor puede hacer eso”

“Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively”