Post your Favorite MLK quote

[usregimechange]

Here is mine:


http://www.cafepress.com/mlking

[jmm]

1. This thread just inspired me to get a sig line again

[SemperEadem]

2. found mine earlier today

"In America", the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "we have socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor".


http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050613/OPINION01/506130303/1035/OPINION

[FrenchieCat]

3. My favorite.....

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.--Martin Luther King Jr.--1963

[undergroundrailroad]

4. I was in the mist of greatness, an ICON. My favorite Dr. King quote:

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.

From the "I Have a Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963

[Robeson]

5. The day before he was assassinated, he gave one of the most....

...brilliant speeches, really, of all time. I particularly like this segment from it, which shows the complete breadth and knowledge he had. This could have been given by a history professor....

"As you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of general and panoramic view of the whole human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" — I would take my mental flight by Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. I would move on by Greece, and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even go by the way that the man for whom I'm named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church in Wittenberg.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating president by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

But I wouldn't stop there. Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy." Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars."

Of course, the rest of his speech was awesome, and as I said, probably one of the best orations ever. Truly right up there with a Cicero. But that one segment, really gets me....

[mark414]

6. one quote is hard...how about a couple paragraphs?

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood."

[politicasista]

7. A favorite

"Free At Last, Free At Last. Thank God Almighty, We Are Free At Last."

[undergroundrailroad]

8. His most eloquent indeed.

UGRR :hi:

[FrenchieCat]

9. Now, we just have to work hard to make it so! n/t

[politicasista]

10. I agree

Hi UGRR. :hi:

[Lefty48197]

11. "I might not get there with you...."

"I have been to the mountain top, and I have seen the promised land. I might not get there with you..."
Spoken the night before he was murdered.

[Kipepeo]

12. One of my favorites:

"I criticize America because I love her and because I want to see her to stand as a moral example to the world."

[jeffrey_X]

13. "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than..."

sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

[intheflow]

14. Great thread! Here are a couple that have touched me.

"We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

and, from his excellent speech, Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution:

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of the Vietnamese people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.

It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish against poverty.

Not only that, it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. And here we are ten thousand miles away from home fighting for the so-called freedom of the Vietnamese people when we have not even put our own house in order. And we force young black men and young white men to fight and kill in brutal solidarity. Yet when they come back home that can’t hardly live on the same block together.

The judgment of God is upon us today.

I was just a kid when he delivered this is '68. Raise the dollar amounts, substitute "Iraqi" for "Vietcong", and it all sounds eerily familiar.