The Martin Luther King, Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Hardcover)

~ Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Author), Coretta Scott King (Compiler), Dexter Scott King (Introduction) "Since the institution of slavery was so important to the economic development of America, it had a profound impact in shaping the social-political-legal structure of..." (more)
Key Phrases: freedom ring, nonviolent resistance, Black Power, Mahatma Gandhi, Bull Connor

Editorial Reviews

Review

Slavery-"Who are we? We are the descendants of slaves...We are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder. I for one am not ashamed of this past. My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us."

Nonviolence-"Nonviolence is ultimately a way of life that men live by because of the sheer mortality of its claim."

Mankind-"We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers."

War-"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided man."

Good and Evil-"The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tide of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued that self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world."
-- Review

Review

Slavery-"Who are we? We are the descendants of slaves...We are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder. I for one am not ashamed of this past. My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us."

Nonviolence-"Nonviolence is ultimately a way of life that men live by because of the sheer mortality of its claim."

Mankind-"We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers."

War-"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided man."

Good and Evil-"The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tide of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued that self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (December 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312199902
• ISBN-13: 978-0312199906
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #872,279 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When you need a way to say something of worth, January 14, 2009

By	a gentle sound (USA) - See all my reviews

For a good while I've been speechless.
Oh I talk, sure, but it has been obscured by my being distracted.By my flaws, by others flaws. A waste of energy sometimes, a drain on my heart when not directed to a love purpose.
On Amazon this included a person that deliberately improved a false god standing by ruining mine. Simple truths speak simply, it was a waste of my heart energy and did no one any good. I removed content that mattered to me. I wrote here to talk to issues in teaching, point out good books to use with students and reflect.But it became an accusational festival of lies about me. Untrue, unfair, unfounded and it hurt just good purposes. That's how jealousy and hate work. But I was falsely accused. And I stood pretty much alone. But I have a background in understanding some things. Shoulders to climb on.

I have always been inspired by the work of those who see poverty, see needs, see situations that require our concern and then seeing this lose their own self needs into becoming effective reacting on their feet, they dedicate their life to it, to solutions. Some are silent to the world, unseen forces for good. Sure they know how inadequate and flawed they are, but carry on with the best they have toward peace/compassion/doing as their light. Simple thing to elevate in your self. Some become known to us, often giving up their life in noble pursuit.At the extreme end many have done that.
Obviously Dr. King did that.

So his quotes contained in this little lovely book can slip in your purse and stay with you as you sit in the doctor's office, waiting perhaps to get results to see if you son has an aneurysm in his brain(my week), or whenever you feel you need to look deeper as you meditate, or to share with others to center a task. Good as I start the day, or get a break in it to think again about "WHAT MATTERS" in teaching to me.

So inside are attributions to writings and speeches and a very good culled QUOTATION collection. Nothing doesn't stand there for me like a rock solid foundational value he put into practice.
It is divided into sections:
Heritage, The Movement, Institutions, Philosophies, Issues, Reflections and further subdivided.

Today I need to think, meditate, as I teach King, reading here to center about Love and Compassion. (Within Philosophies)


So try listening :

"The hard hearted individual never sees people as people, but rather as mere objects or as impersonal cogs in an ever turning wheel. In the vast wheel of industry, he sees men as hands."

"...we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves."

" Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering, We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you."

" The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued that self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world."


" It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

" If only to save myself bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transfigure myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these past few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive."
Dr. King

It helps me turn away from the feelings of disappointment, anxiety and deep feelings of disgust towards more loving reserves that allow me to say to that "enemy" ...... try seeing another way. And I will do the same.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Close COmpanion for these coming years of trial and testing: nonviolence is the only way, not war, not hate, but love, January 28, 2009

By	C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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"I am convinced that the universe is under the control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship." - the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. as quoted in this Frontispiece

The Companion collection, first published in 1993, gathered from the books, essays and speeches of the Reverend Doctor King by his wife, Coretta Scott King, with the assistance of Joe Kirchberger, and wonderfully published in hardcover with thick, matte, rough edged paper by the great St, Martin's Press stands us good stead and firm companion upon the rocky path ahead which we must yet walk.

Among this collection's sources stand straight the 1957 strengthening volume STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM, the 1963 Civil Rights Manifesto Why We Can't Wait (Signet Classics) (including several passages from his cornerstone Letter From A Birmingham Jail), the late 1967 commissioning Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? and the 1967 The Trumpet of Conscience: The Summing-Up of His Creed, and His Final Testament. This collection adds selections from his consoling and enlivening Strength to Love, his discourse upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and his speech Beyond Vietnam, and so this gets enables you to take up your weary mat and walk, strongly, towards freedom, peace and nonviolent love with all humanity.

All Jesus' words and teachings and life are often summed up by three: "Love thy enemy!" Dr. King wrote and said so much more than "I have a dream" or "Free at last!" or "I have been to the mountaintop." In fact his son Dexter alludes in his introduction to this book to over "200,000 documents in his lifetime" written by Dr. King.

Dexter Scott King, in one paragraph of his rich introduction, calls this "a book about my father's words, but more significantly, it's a blueprint for social change. I feel that this portable companion can be read wholly on its own, but also as a source book that illuminates the passages of Dr. King's greatest works. This is a book that is just as meaningful, perhaps more relevant today, than it was twenty-five years ago, when my father died (p. xi)."

As our nation now turns a corner in our long journey, this book serves as well as a light unto our feet and a guide for our future, and grows even more relevant now, sixteen years after its first publication, and over forty years after the publication of its source material. We have much to see here now, to help us on our way, in our progress towards peaceful cooperation and our ultimate survival. Read this book well.

This book, therefore, is divided in to six Parts, each carrying several themes, or issues. The Parts are Heritage, The Movement, Institutions which includes the subsection on the US Presidency, citing among others this passage: "We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy. We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick stimulation of violence in all walks of life, and we tolerated the differential application of law, which said that a man's life was sacred only if we agreed with his views (p. 28)." The Parts continue with Philosophies, Issues and Reflections, each with their own generous subsections.

In the section on War we find this: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death (p. 83)." Hear these words now; where are we now? Where are we going to? And again: "There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the destructive power of modern weapons eliminates even the possibility that war may serve as a negative good (p. 82)." These are words for us now, today, as we look at our ruins and trillion dollar deficits, now. Where will we go?

Read this book, a strong companion for the path we have ahead.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMPANION:QUOTATIONS FROM THE SPEECHES,ESSAYS,&BOOKS OF MARTIN LUTHER LUTHER KING,JR. , March 12, 2007

By	CECELIA A. PITTMAN "[e-mail]" (LOS ANGELES, CA. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

THIS WAS AN AWESOME MAN!! HE WAS TRULY A GOD SEND AND A BLESSING TO BLACK PEOPLE AS A WHOLE AND ALL WHO LISTENED, BELIEVED AND LEARNED FROM HIS MESSAGES AND SPEECHES!! A TRUE BLACK KING!! THIS BOOK IS A COLLECTORS ITEM AND A TRUE HEIRLOOM OF A BLACK LEGACY!!!!