Quotes about Justice
It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
For years now I have heard the word Wait! It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This Wait has almost always meant Never. We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that justice too long delayed is justice denied.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
unearned suffering is redemptive.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
We did not hesitate to call our movement an army. But it was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The time is always right, to do what's right.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
For you will never be what you ought to be until they [your fellow humans] are what they ought to be.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
May I say just a word to those of you who are struggling against this evil. Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ' an unjust law is no law at all.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.