Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

Without armaments peace cannot be kept; wars are waged not only to repel injustice but also to establish a firm peace.

One of the primary necessities of the world for the maintenance of peace is the elimination of the frictions which arise from competitive armament.

Arms alone can give the world no permanent peace, no confident security. Arms are solely for defense - to protect from violent assault what we already have. They are only a costly insurance. They cannot add to human progress.

Disarmament requires trust.

We should wage war not to win war, but to win peace.

I came here as a practical man, to talk, not simply on the question of peace and war, but to treat another question which is of hardly less importance - the enormous and burdensome standing armaments which it is the practice of modern Governments to sustain in time of peace.

Where there is no trust, how can we give up our weapons first?

Peace and stability cannot be achieved by means of nuclear weapons.

Why I oppose the nuclear-arms race: I prefer the human race.

The notion that disarmament can put a stop to war is contradicted by the nearest dogfight.

Arms alone are not enough to keep the peace. It must be kept by men.

We pacifists have not ceased to point to the grave danger of armaments and to insist on their curtailment.

The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it.

We ought to disarm Germany completely.

We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war.

Every nation must have some degree of military organization, even among the most peaceful peoples. The possession of armament however, no matter how necessary, breeds suspicion, fear, counter-armament and hate.

You have not been mistaken in supposing my views and feeling to be in favor of the abolition of war.

It is not important what the other side says or means. What is important are the military capabilities of the other side.

We do not want war with Iran.

We always prefer war on our own terms to peace on someone else's.

The best way to begin disarming is to begin-and the United States is ready to conclude firm agreements in these areas and to consider any other reasonable proposal.

We have all taken risks in the making of war. Isn't it time that we should take risks to secure peace?

Disarmament by war and democracy by occupation are difficult prospects.

Armaments do not, generally speaking, cause wars. This notion, the logical crux of all arguments in favor of disarmament, turns the causal relationship upside down. Actually, it is wars, or conflicts threatening war, that cause armaments, not the reverse.

A world war - God forbid! - will leave only smoldering ashes as a mute testimony of a human race whose folly led inexorably to untimely death. Yet there are those who sincerely feel that disarmament is an evil and international negotiation is an abominable waste of time.