Law Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr

The law of "An eye for an eye" will eventually leave everyone blind.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Just as it is the duty of all men to obey just laws, so it is the duty of all men to…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

We must have our freedom now. We must have the right to vote. We must have equal protection of the law.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

There comes a time when a moral man can't obey a law which his conscience tells him is unjust.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies... for…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Let us say boldly, that if the total slum violations of law by the white man over the years were calculated and…

— 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…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust ... is in reality expressing the highest respect for law…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously…

— 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…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

There is something in this universe that justifies the biblical writer in saying, "You shall reap what you sow." This is a…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to follow its disastrous leading. History…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy. We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick stimulation of violence in all…

— 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…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It destroys communities and makes humanity impossible. It creates bitterness…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words,…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

As we have seen, the first public expression of disenchantment with nonviolence arose around the question of 'self-defense.' In a sense this…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever recurring song of retaliation. The oceans of history are…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also declare that the white man does not abide by law…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

If I lived in a Communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

There are two types of laws: there are just laws and there are unjust laws... What is the difference between the two?...An…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

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

A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in…

— 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,…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. That old law about "an eye for an eye"…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Our world hinges on moral foundations. God has made it so. God has made the universe to be based on a moral…

— 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…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

There are always those who say legislation can't solve the problem. There is a half-truth involved here. It is true that legislation…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words,…

— Martin Luther King, Jr

So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make…

— Martin Luther King, Jr