Clergyman's

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ""Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."" Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ""Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."" Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: ""I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."" Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ""Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God."" And John Bunyan: ""I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience."" And Abraham Lincoln: ""This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."" And Thomas Jefferson: ""We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ."" So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime — the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
- "Martin Luther King, Jr."

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ""Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."" Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ""Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."" Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: ""I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."" Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ""Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God."" And John Bunyan: ""I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience."" And Abraham Lincoln: ""This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."" And Thomas Jefferson: ""We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ."" So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime — the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
- "Martin Luther King, Jr."

I've seen people who discovered a great meaning in their jobs and they became so absorbed in that that they didn't have time to become self-centered. They loved their job. And the great prayer that anyone could pray at that point is: ""O God, help me to love my job as this individual loves his or hers. O God, help me to give my self to my work and to my job and to my allegiance as this individual does."" And this is the way out. And I think this is what Emerson meant when he said: ""O, see how the masses of men worry themselves into nameless graves, while here and there, some great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality."" And this becomes a point of balance when you can forget yourself into immortality. You're not so absorbed in self, but you are absorbed in something beyond self.
- "Martin Luther King, Jr."

The forces of good will must be mobilized in order to go the additional distance and make integration and the brotherhood of man a reality. First, the federal government must use all of its constitutional authority to enforce the law of the land. As we look back over the years, we must honestly admit that only one branch of the government has given consistent, forthright, vigorous leadership, namely the judicial branch of the government, but the executive and legislative branches of the government have been all too apathetic, all too silent, and sometimes hypocritical. The time has come for all of the branches of the federal government to work in a vigorous manner to make integration a reality.
- "Martin Luther King, Jr."

Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on until every valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the leveling process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom.
- "Martin Luther King, Jr."