Best Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. (Top 10)
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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
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Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.
Martin Luther King Jr.
More Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
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A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'
Martin Luther King Jr.
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An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A lie cannot live.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
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Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We will 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.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A riot is the language of the unheard.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, 'Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We who in 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.
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Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I have a dream today!
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
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Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Nothing pains some people more than having to think
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Seeing is not always believing.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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We must use time creatively.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The more there are riots, the more repressive actin will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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It is a tragic mix-up when the United States spends 500,000 for every enemy soldier killed, and only 53 annually on the victims of poverty.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?
Martin Luther King Jr.
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The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
Martin Luther King Jr.