One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws ―Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Civil rights leader and clergyman was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
He was best known as the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement and globally opposed racial discrimination, segregation, and injustice in the United States and throughout the world.
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, using peaceful protests and civil disobedience to bring about change during the 1950s and 1960s.
One of his most powerful speeches came during the Birmingham campaign in 1963, when he said that a riot is the language of the unheard.
In honor of Martin Luther King Day and his legacy, here are some great quotes about civil disobedience from this revolutionary man who continues to inspire millions around the world today.
Related: Henry David Thoreau Quotes | Mahatma Gandhi Quotes | Civil Disobedience quotes
Short Quotes by Martin Luther King Quotes on Civil Disobedience
One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mass civil disobedience can use rage as a constructive and creative force. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
I had intended to be one of the first to set the example of civil disobedience. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
We believe in a system of law based on justice and morality. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. on Civil Disobedience: Quotes to Inspire Change
We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind him would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile. I knew that I was a convicted criminal, but I was proud of my crime. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is purposeless to tell Negroes they should not be enraged when they should be. Indeed, they will be mentally healthier if they do not suppress rage, but vent it constructively and use its energy peacefully but forcefully to cripple the operations of an oppressive society. Civil disobedience can utilize the militance wasted in riots to seize clothes or groceries many do not even want. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
During my student days, I read Henry David Thoreau’s essay “On Civil Disobedience” for the first time. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
At this point, I began to think about Thoreau’s “Essay on Civil Disobedience.” I became convinced that what we were preparing to do in Montgomery was related to what Thoreau had expressed. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
We were simply saying to the white community, “We can no longer lend our cooperation to an evil system.” From this moment on I conceived of our movement as an act of massive noncooperation. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ten days after the demonstrations began, between four hundred and five hundred people had gone to jail; some had been released on bail, but about three hundred remained. Now that the job of unifying the Negro community had been accomplished, my time had come. We decided that, because of its symbolic significance, April 12, Good Friday, would be the day that Ralph Abernathy and I would present our bodies as personal witness in this crusade. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
We cannot in all good conscience obey such an injunction which is an unjust, undemocratic, and unconstitutional misuse of the legal process. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Just as in all good conscience we cannot obey unjust laws, neither can we respect the unjust use of the courts. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Other Famous Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The way to end poverty is to end the exploitation of the poor, ensure them a fair share of the government services and the nation’s resources. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
However, for the good of America, it is necessary to refute the idea that the dominant ideology in our country, even today, is freedom and equality while racism is just an occasional departure from the norm on the part of a few bigoted extremists. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
In a real sense, all life is interrelated. The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich; the betterment of the poor enriches the rich. We are inevitably our brother’s keepers because we are our brother’s brother. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The deep rumblings that we hear today, the rumblings of discontent, is the thunder of disinherited masses rising from dungeons of oppressions to the bright hills of freedom. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The final phase of our national sickness is the disease of militarism. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Racism can well be, that corrosive evil that will bring down the curtain on western civilization. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The time has come for an all-out war against poverty. The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled and feed the unfed…. If they would allocate just two percent of their gross national product annually for a period of ten or twenty years for the development of the underdeveloped nations, mankind would go a long way toward conquering the ancient enemy, poverty. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
[T]he era of colonialism, is at an end…. The earth is being redistributed. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
![[T]he era of colonialism, is at an end.... The earth is being redistributed. ―Martin Luther King Quotes on Civil Disobedience](https://versesquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The-era-of-colonialism-is-at-an-end....-The-earth-is-being-redistributed..jpg)
And on some positions, it is necessary for the moral individual to take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular; but he must do it because it is right. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
We must also realize that the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The well-off and the secure have too often become the indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. The poor in our countries have been shut out of our minds, and driven from the mainstream of our societies, because we have allowed them to become invisible. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
No enemy has ever been able to cause such damage to us as we inflict upon ourselves. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am convinced that this new life will not emerge until our nation undergoes a radical revolution of values. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
A final problem that mankind must solve in order to survive in the world house that we have inherited is finding an alternative to war and human destruction. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are willing to make a Negro 100% of a citizen in Warfare but reduce him to 50% of a citizen on American soil. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Among the moral imperatives of our time, we are challenged to work all over the world with unshakable determination to wipe out the last vestiges of racism. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
If America does not respond creatively to the challenge to banish racism, some future historian will have to say, that a great civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make justice a reality for all men. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The poor, black and white, are still perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yes, the hour is dark, evil comes forth in the guise of good. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
A nation that continues year after year, to spend more money on military defense then on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Equality with whites will not solve the problems of either whites or Negroes if it means equality in a world society stricken by poverty and a universe doomed to extinction by war. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
And I submit to you tonight, that a congress that proves to be more anti-negro than anti-rat needs to be dismissed. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
May I say in conclusion that there is a need now, more than ever before, for men and women in our nation to be creatively maladjusted. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar, it understands that an edifice which produces beggars, needs restructuring. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
But our moral lag must be redeemed; when scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
The great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and lands. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
All over the world like a fever, the great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and lands. They are awake and moving toward their goal like a tidal wave. ―Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quotes You’d Love to Tweet
The deep rumblings that we hear today, the rumblings of discontent, is the thunder of disinherited masses rising from dungeons of oppressions to the bright hills of freedom. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetWe must also realize that the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetA final problem that mankind must solve in order to survive in the world house that we have inherited is finding an alternative to war and human destruction. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetA nation that continues year after year, to spend more money on military defense then on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetThe great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and lands. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetI became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. ―Martin Luther King, Jr. Click To TweetOf course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. ―Martin… Click To TweetDownload Best Martin Luther King Quotes on Civil Disobedience
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FAQs
Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
Dr. King was an American clergyman, activist, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who became a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent methods such as boycotts, marches and non-violent resistance.
What are some examples of civil disobedience?
An example would be Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat because she was black and therefore discriminated against by giving up her seat to a white person. Another example would be Gandhi protesting the British government’s salt monopoly with his famous Salt March which sparked India’s independence movement.
What is civil disobedience, according to Martin Luther King, Jr.?
According to Martin Luther King, Jr., civil disobedience is when citizens violate the law for the sake of protest, justice and peace. Examples include Martin Luther King Jr.’s refusal to move from a whites only Montgomery bus seat in 1955, Gandhi’s Salt March protest against British rule in 1930, and Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955.
Why did Dr. Martin Luther King believe that breaking the law can lead to social change?
Dr. King believed that breaking the law can lead to social change because he had witnessed this during his time fighting for civil rights for all people. He believes that people need to stand up for what they believe in and fight back against oppression with protests, even if it means breaking laws or going to jail in order to make their voices heard.
How did Dr. King feel about obeying laws?
Though Dr. King often spoke about civil disobedience. He also made it clear that sometimes one must obey the law. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, says Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Why did Martin Luther King go to jail so many times?
Although MLK went to jail many times, he never regrets doing so because he felt it was important for him to serve as an example of someone willing to take risks and resist unjust laws.
How did Dr. King view the difference between civil disobedience and violence?
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin differentiates between violence and civil disobedience: One may well ask how our activities compare with those of men who resort to violence. Violence is destructive; whereas, under controlled conditions, nonviolence is creative. It avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.
Conclusion
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