Street Spirit January 2005

Poor Leonard's Almanack

by Leonard Roy Frank

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) - prophet, man of peace, hero for all ages - was born in Atlanta on January 15th 76 years ago. Remembering his words and deeds, let us strive to realize his dream.

1. I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.

"The Most Durable Power," sermon, Montgomery (Alabama), 6 November 1956

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

Stride Toward Freedom, 2, 1958

3. Nonviolence... does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding.

Stride Toward Freedom, 6, 1958

4. 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 that they did not know they had. Finally it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.

Stride Toward Freedom, 11, 1958

5. Today the choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.

Stride Toward Freedom, 11, 1958

6. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

7. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: (1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, (2) negotiation, (3) self-purification, and (4) direct action.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

8. An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

9. We shall have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

10. The time is always ripe to do right.

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

11. The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists 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?

"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 16 April 1963

12. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into a oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream 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 content of their character. I have a dream today!

"I Have a Dream," keynote address of the Civil Rights March at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, 28 August 1963

13. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.

Strength to Love, 1.1, 1963

14. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.

Strength to Love, 2.3, 1963

15. Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

Strength to Love, 5.2, 1963

16. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

Strength to Love, 7.2, 1963

17. Immoral means cannot bring moral ends, for the ends are pre-existent in the means.

Strength to Love, 12.1, 1963

18. At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, "Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever." Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm.

"The Kitchen Experience," 27 January 1956, Strength to Love, 13.3, 1963. Dr. King was describing his late-night experience at the kitchen table in his home during the Montgomery bus boycott, when daily death threats to him and his family nearly brought him to the point of giving up the struggle.

19. Faith is the opening of all sides and at every level of one's life to the divine inflow.

Strength to Love, 15.3, 1963

20. The inseparable twin of racial injustice is economic injustice.

Strength to Love, 17.1, 1963

21. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

Speech, Washington, 26 March 1964

22. Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.

Nobel Peace Prize acceptance address, Oslo, 11 December 1964

23. I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nobel Peace Prize acceptance address, Oslo, 11 December 1964

24. Man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we are going to stand up right hereÉ letting the world know we are determined to be free.

Sermon, Selma (Alabama), 8 March 1965

25. Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls.

"Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom," Ebony, October 1966

26. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam.... The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

"Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam," sermon, Riverside Church, New York City, 4 April 1967

27. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.

"Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam," sermon, Riverside Church, New York City, 4 April 1967

28. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 2.2, 1967

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

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 2.3, 1967

30. To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 3.2, 1967

31. Together we must learn to live as brothers or together we will be forced to perish as fools.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 6.1, 1967

32. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 6.1, 1967

33. When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. When we foolishly minimize the internal of our lives and maximize the external, we sign the warrant for our own day of doom.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 6.1, 1967

34. Love is the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 6.3, 1967

35. That's your new definition of greatness.... It means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

"The Drum Major Instinct," sermon, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, 4 February 1968

36. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.

Passion Sunday sermon at the National Cathedral, Washington, 31 March 1968

37. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation.

Passion Sunday sermon at the National Cathedral, Washington, 31 March 1968

38. I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Closing paragraph of Dr. King's last public address (on the eve of his assassination), Mason Temple, Memphis, 3 April 1968

Leonard Roy Frank is the editor of Random House Webster's Quotationary. Last year Random House published his Freedom: Quotes and Passages from the World's Greatest Freethinkers and 5 gift books titled Inspiration, Love, Money, Wisdom, and Wit, each subtitled The Greatest Things Ever Said.

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