mlk quote essay

57 Famous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes About Love, Justice and Equality

On MLK Day (and every day), look to these inspirational words.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential trailblazers of American history.

Despite the Civil Rights Movement starting over 60 years ago, his profound actions and inspirational words are still echoed today, especially during times of racial disparity. To honor him and his work, we are sharing some of the most beloved Martin Luther King Jr. quotes from past essays, speeches, letters and from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

From powerful words about love, kindness, justice, equity and so much more, we hope that these MLK Jr. quotes will inspire and commemorate the great legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. during the month of January and beyond. And to learn more about the man himself, check out our list of the best Martin Luther King Jr. movies and documentaries out there.

From his 1963 book, "Strength to Love":

One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong.

- Strength to Love

From his "I Have a Dream" speech, August 1963:

We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

- " I Have a Dream " speech, August 1963

From "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," April 1963:

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

- " Letter from a Birmingham Jail ," April 1963

From his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech , 1964

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.

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

From his autobiography, “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.”:

The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., 2001

From his essay “The Purpose of Education," 1947

Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

- “ The Purpose of Education ," 1947

From “The American Dream” speech given at Lincoln University, Oxford, Penn. June 6, 1961:

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

- “ The American Dream ,” 1961

From “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart” sermon, August 30, 1959:

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.

- “ A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart ,” 1959

From his "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”:

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

- " Where Do We Go From Here? ," 1967

We must condemn those who are perpetuating the violence, and not the individuals who engage in the pursuit of their constitutional rights.

From his speech before a group of students at Barratt Junior High School, October 26, 1967:

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.

- Speech for students at Barratt Junior High School , 1967

From his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968:

For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

- “ I’ve Been to the Mountaintop ,” 1968

I came to the conclusion that there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself; nobody else can speak for you.

From "Stride Toward Freedom," 1958:

You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must remain calm.

- Stride Toward Freedom , 1958

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

From his essay “The Purpose of Education," 1947:

The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

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.

RELATED: What Is the Answer to Overcoming Racism in America?

We cannot long survive spiritually separated in a world that is geographically together.

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Home › Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

123 Powerful Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

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Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929. He was a pivotal advocate for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

King experienced racism from an early age, and those events stayed with and eventually brought him to a life of activism. After graduating college with a doctorate degree in theology, King became a pastor in Alabama. He began a series of peaceful protests in the south that eventually changed many laws dealing with the equality of African Americans. King gave hundreds of moving speeches across the country, and in 1964 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

On April 4th, 1968, Dr. King was shot and killed while in Memphis, Tennessee. Although his life ended that day, the work that he had accomplished changed the nation. King will be remembered not only for his commitment to the cause of equality for African Americans but also for his profound speeches that moved so many.

MLK Jr.’s words were spoken with hope that the future for African Americans would be brighter and that they would finally be given the equality they deserved.

The following 123 Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on life, love, progress, and freedom helped shape the world today.

Page Contents

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Life

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life , devoid of breadth.

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect , it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.

We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

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.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

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.

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.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

A lie cannot live.

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

MLK Quotes on Love

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

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.

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love .

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.

Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

Inspirational Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

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.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.

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.

A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

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.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope .

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

You will change your mind; You will change your looks; You will change your smile, laugh, and ways but no matter what you change, you will always be you.

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.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace .

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Leadership

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

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.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

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.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.

Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

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.

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

The soft-minded man always fears change . He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.

We cannot walk alone.

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.

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. Quotes on Progress

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.

People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.

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.

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

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.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.

What is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy.

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.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

The more there are riots, the more repressive action will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Justice

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

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.

Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

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.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

Martin Luther King Jr. on Nonviolence

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.

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.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.

World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

Mankind must put and end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

MLK on Freedom

If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho’ we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny.

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped.

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’

MLK on Faith

If any earthly institution or custom conflicts with God’s will, it is your Christian duty to oppose it. You must never allow the transitory, evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God .

Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles; Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.

By opening our lives to God in Christ, we become new creatures. This experience, which Jesus spoke of as the new birth, is essential if we are to be transformed nonconformists … Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’ It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.

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.

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?’

Seeing is not always believing.

Quotes About Martin Luther King Jr.

The evidence of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” declaration was a passionate confirmation of how a dream meant for liberation, success and fulfilled life can become true. Israelmore Ayivor, Shaping the Dream

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization – black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King Jr. did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love…. What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. Robert F. Kennedy

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was a manifestation of hope that humanity might one day get out of its own way by finding the courage to realize that love and nonviolence are not indicators of weakness but gifts of significant strength. Aberjhani, Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I

We can’t answer King’s assassination with violence. That would be the worst tribute we could pay him. Sammy Davis Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. left an indelible mark on the hearts of the American people by his perseverance and non-violent ways. Larry Berg Martin Luther King, Jr.: Life Lessons from the King Who Had a Dream

Martin Luther King knew a powerful secret. When others gave up chasing their dreams, when others told him that it was time to give up, he continued persevering through adversity. Jake Anderson, Martin Luther King Greatest Quotes and Life Lessons

10 Facts About Martin Luther King Jr.

• Martin Luther King Jr. skipped two grades in high school, 9th and 11th, and entered college ( Morehouse College ) at the age of 15 in 1944. By 19, he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
• His honeymoon was spent at a funeral parlor. This was not because someone died, simply because a friend owned the parlor and offered to let him use it for his honeymoon.
• His house was once bombed. This was during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 385 days.
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s autopsy revealed that stress had taken a major toll on his body. Despite being only 39 when he passed away, one of his doctors noted that he had “the heart of a 60 year old”.
• Today over 700 streets in the Unites States are named after Martin Luther King Jr. There is one such street in almost every major city.
• King’s “ I Have a Dream ” speech was not his first at the Lincoln Memorial.
• King narrowly escaped an assassination attempt a decade before his death.
• Members of King’s family did not believe James Earl Ray acted alone.
• King’s mother was also slain by a bullet in 1974.
• George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are the only other Americans to have had their birthdays observed as a national holiday (now combined as Presidents Day).

Martin Luther King Jr. inspired the human race to strive for harmony among all people. His tragic death shocked the nation, but his words and his dedication to equality continue to inspire younger generations.

We hope these powerful Martin Luther King Jr. quotes lift your heart and spirit.

Hannah Hutyra

47 thoughts on “123 Powerful Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes”

Timeless prophetic, insightful quotes from a great Nobel Prize Recipient. So poignant for these troubled times. He reiterates words that accomplishes God’s intentions. As written in Matthew 22:37-39(NASB) And Jesus said to them, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’This is the great and foremost commandment. “And a second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. ‘

Thank you for dedicating this page to the inspiring words and to the facts about Martin Luther King, Jr. – you are doing good work.

Gone too soon! Such an inspiration—-we could use more men of great faith like MLK Jr!

For the last few days I felt inspired to honor MLK jr and read his quotes and appreciate his cause what he stood for and his beautiful spirit and mind..,

Martin Luther King Jr. in his sadly shortened life left us more wisdom than so many others who lived longer. His words are not only relevant today, but will be meaningful to others for the coming eras.

As we face the social unrest of recent, we must remember the words of Dr. King regarding non-violence, committed purpose, and the importance of an active voice.

Though Dr. King was a mere mortal , his words of wisdom and truth will ring immortal. These truths have the ability to change and convict the heart of man. Thank you for researching them. Very inspiring and motivating.

Thank you for compiling this information on one of the greatest leaders of our time. Your content is thorough and easy to read. This made my research for information about Dr. King simple and seamless.

Every word spoken by this exceptional man is still revalent today…a man with eternal vision and inspiration to people everywhere.

Another Great Loss to America and a much needed man for these times.

Martin Luther King Jr you are a man of peace and a freedom fighter who loves dignity, your words with remine in my mind always. I love you.

Nzekwe Augustus your words give Dr. King the immortality he deserves. You said “you ARE a man of peace”. That is the present tense, and yes he IS still very much alive. Alive in the hearts and minds of so very many.

Am an ardent follower of Dr.King…he was a timeless individual

Wow. I only want to read more of his thoughts and beliefs. Such inspiration and love. Thanks for sharing this.

His wisdom and insight is timeless. His death was a loss to humanity.

The older I get the more I respect and admire Dr. King. We need his leadership in the world now.

Lovely, strengthening, inspiring profound word of courage, enlightenment, hope….RIP, Sir king.

In this day and age nothing can be more powerful than reminding ourselves what Martin Luther king Junior and his family stand for. His history of encouraging nonviolent change through unconditional love is inspiring!! Standing up for principles that are good and just for all is as important today as it was in the 60s. You are missed and very much needed. I’m as inspired by you and your family today as I’ve been since the sixties. Equality for all men women and children!✝️?

Thank you… for reminding me this morning to take a moment to see and believe, a moment spent in love, remembering, is just as important as thinking to spend another moment caring to share love with others… smiles

I don’t know what to say, he was a guardian sent by God almighty.

I am humbled. This was exactly what I needed to help me deal with my anger in this dark time. Thank you.

Deeply wish people knew the other quotes about riots rather than the “language of the unheard” part. would change a lot of minds.

So inspiring, makes me know things can be better, we must work hard to make it happen.

We shall remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends

Lesson learnt, success must struggle. Don’t be afraid of obstacles or limitation. Fulfill your Dreams by achieving your goals.

The best amongst: There is a bit of good in the worst of us and there is a bit of bad in the best of us. When mankind realises this truth, the world would be a better place to dwell upon. : Martin Luther King Jr

These quotes made him immortal

Martin Luther king Jr remains forever present in our communities and his words a seizeless push and support for any visionary. He lives on..

51 years after his death, I am still amazed at the brilliance of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If everyone paid attention to the life lessons in his quotes, the world would be a better place for all humanity. Love this man!

I constantly tell people every chance I get that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the greatest modern day Prophet of the 20th Century!

All of these quotes made by Dr. King are so much more than inspirational. They are so much more than I am capable of putting into adequate words. I am deeply moved by them in my heart and soul. Thank you for giving access to us. I have always admired what Dr. King has done for us but never read all these moving quotes before until today. I plan to print out and put one new one on my mirror daily to start my day to focus on.

Fact check: Americans over age 40, like me, can remember that Lincoln’s birthday was also a national holiday. When MLK got his holiday in the 80’s, Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were combined to become the President’s day holiday we now have.

Thank you so much for compiling all these awesome quotes!

Thanks Treva! We’ve corrected they typo and appreciate the help.

I hope these quotes serves as a light to enlighten the minds of this generation. Equality and love can make a huge change to have a life we dream.

what a great man, servant of the people and if still alive today, America would be a different and equal society today. the naming of 700 streets in his honour is appreciated.

That truly inspired me and I wish I could thank Martin Luther King in person.

A great man of God indeed that lives forever (Aluta continue)

What a man. So many lessons can be learned in these quotes. Truly a man of great faith and a heart filled with love for all humanity.

Dr. Martin Luther’s quotes are healing, educational, uplifting and full of hope. They have helped me tremendously in times of confusion, loss of hope, fear and peace in my heart. They have great teachings about humanity and the actions of mankind. The question still remains, even after he has been dead and gone for many years, will we ever get along and be able to live together in peace and harmony, without judgements of each other. It looks like we all still have a long way to go.?

Very encouraging,realistic and prophetic,most of all of his quotes tally with life events

i know he was! he changed the world.

Thank you for this grace-filled tribute. May we carry on his legacy with love, service and vigilance…and never forget his words, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

Indeed, very inspiring work on the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King. Beautiful and informative website / blog – Very empowering learning for today and tomorrow’s people. Your life was true gift from God to Humanity.

Dr. King was special, prophetic and loved mankind. The world will change when the power of love is greater than the love of power.

Thank you, thank you for bringing together all of these quotes from one of the most inspiring human beings to grace this planet. The work and words of Martin Luther King Jr. must NEVER be allowed to die out over coming generations! He was truly a prophet for ALL time.

A billion thank yous for this truly heart-warming, powerful and inspiring post! This helps me and motivates me to be better, do more good around me and achieve greater and kinder purposes for the world 🙂 Martin Luther King was an exceptional human being and your post just emphasizes that fact!

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes and Speeches

A list of iconic martin luther king, jr. quotes, plus how to listen to his speeches and read his work..

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s enduring legacy and powerful words, here is a list of some important speeches he made during his life. We’ve pulled some of our favorite quotes, but we urge you to read and watch them in their entirety to understand and appreciate the full depth of Dr. King’s radical work.

“Paul’s Letter to American Christians” (1956)

“Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem…You can work within the framework of democracy to bring about a better distribution of wealth. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.”

Listen to the sermon below, or read the transcript here .

“I Have a Dream” (1963)

“We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating for whites only. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Read the transcript and listen to the audio recording here.

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)

“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”

Read the full letter here , which Dr. King began drafting in the margins of a newspaper editorial while imprisoned.

Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (1964)

“Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. 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.”

Listen to the lecture below, or read the transcript here .

“Proud to be Maladjusted” (1966)

“There are some things in our society and some things in our world for which I am proud to be maladjusted. And I call upon all men of goodwill to be maladjusted to these things until the good society is realized. I must honestly say to you that I never intend to adjust myself to racial segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, leave millions of God’s children smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.”

Watch a clip of the address below, and read the transcript here of the version of this speech delivered March 17, 1966 at Southern Methodist University.

“The Other America” (1967)

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

“The Three Evils of Society” (1967)

“And so the collision course is set. The people cry for freedom and the congress attempts to legislate repression. Millions, yes billions, are appropriated for mass murder; but the most meager pittance of foreign aid for international development is crushed in the surge of reaction. Unemployment rages at a major depression level in the black ghettos, but the bi-partisan response is an anti-riot bill rather than a serious poverty program.”

Learn more about the Three Evils of Poverty, Racism, and Militarism here and listen to the speech below.

“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” (1967)

“If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read ‘Vietnam.’ It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that ‘America will be’ are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.”

Listen to the audio recording below, and read the transcript here .

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” (1968)

“All we say to America is to be true to what you said on paper…Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights. And so just as I say we aren’t going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren’t going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on. We need all of you.”

Read and listen to Dr. King’s final speech here.

There are many more speeches and writings available and we encourage you to watch, listen to, and read them. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University is a great resource, as is The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

And in the true spirit of Dr. King, we hope you take time today and all days to serve your community and help people who need help. Only together can we achieve his dream.

24 thoughts on “ Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes and Speeches ”

Quote of jhon milton Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties

Hello, My name is Benoît from Central African Republic. Thank you very much for putting all King’s speeches online. It is very interesting but to find the full text is a bit difficult. Please, is it payable or not?

Hi Benoit, We do not have the whole text of most of King’s speeches, but you can find many of them here for free: http://www.mlkonline.net/speeches.html Thank you! -Ari Bachechi, Data Operations Coordinator

God is able all human being is equal & free in front of god

Food is nothing with out freedom

where’s the I Have A Dream speech?

Thank you for bringing the log in requirement to our attention. You can read and listen to the “I Have A Dream” speech on NPR’s website . The link in the blog has also been updated.

-Ari Bachechi, Assistant Director, Operations & Exhibits

The quoted thread from Proud to Maladjusted is not correct and per the video changes his words. Example: MLK said: I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. You all left out the word racial. Why?

He also said There are some things in our society and some things in our world for which I am proud to be maladjusted. You all switched his words to say nation. MLK quotes and messages have been tampered with & misquoted enough that I would expect a museum dedicated to writers to want to ensure the accuracy of his words.

Thank you for your comment. We did not switch his words per se, though we understand why it seems that way. This speech was given multiple times and the words would change slightly each time. The quote we first used was from a transcript of the speech delivered March 17, 1966 at SMU. However, that quote does not match the video we include in this post so we have now updated the post with the exact words from the video to avoid any further confusion.

We consider all writers’ original words important and take care to honor them, especially a man like Dr. King whose true legacy, as you said, has been misrepresented. So we appreciate your feedback and for bringing this discrepancy to our attention.

he made my people free he is a hero

Thank you so much for his information,We are getting there

I am looking for his famous speech May 1964 at the Republican Convention at the Cow Palace Daly City California

While we found some speech transcripts from that day, unfortunately I could not find a transcript of Dr. King’s speech. Hopefully someone will see this comment and be able to direct you to the appropriate archive!

Good luck, Ari Bachechi, Assistant Director, Operations & Exhibits

Thank you . I work at the Cow Palace and I think it’s crazy that I can’t find that speech anywhere. But I can feel it that I will find it somewhere some how. Positive thoughts always even in this crazy world. Have a great day and I will too.

I seriously, yet greatly appreciate this outlook of our nation’s historical viewpoint of racial discrimination. I wish that it gets place to an end as soon as possible. I appreciate your website for permitting students across our great country to comprehend the struggles we’ve faced for many years, until to this day. It’s a process of totally understanding that people deserve to remain treated as regular, humans throughout our neighborhoods. Without getting a type of understanding of the past, we won’t have the ability to move forward to correct the wrongdoings that’s gone unnoticed. I appreciate the many organizations, members of places that’ve taken action, as well as the great students across our progressive nation that want to make matters of discrimination, stereotyping, including racial profiling stopped. It’s uncalled for, unlawful, including inappropriate for the rest of our people to deal with. With that being said, I pray that the civil rights throughout many cities gets played out fairly. I pray that the top authorities stop the injustices everywhere. Thank you.

martin luther!

BLACK LIVES MATTER

That is cool

true stuff man!

BLACK LIVES DO MATTER

Nice kaltin I am with you!

For a while now, I’ve been trying to find a website where I might get the well-known speeches given by Dr. Martin Luther King. Finally, I landed here. Thanks, AWM for your great effort.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 25, 2024 | Original: November 9, 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington , which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act . King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day , a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia , the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most prominent and prosperous African Americans in the country.

Did you know? The final section of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech is believed to have been largely improvised.

A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College , the alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law.

Although he had not intended to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the ministry, he changed his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class.

King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University, completing his coursework in 1953 and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later. While in Boston he met Coretta Scott, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music . The couple wed in 1953 and settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church .

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only reinforced his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevance of the spirit of nonviolence if necessary social change is peacefully to take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death.

In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet family members and followers of Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during this time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church . This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “ Letter from Birmingham Jail ,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the country.

Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

"I Have a Dream" Speech

The March on Washington culminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial —a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of a future in which “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize .

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace.

That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act , which guaranteed the right to vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework.

As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include a massive march on the capital.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated . He was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where King had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray , an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in 1998.

After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King.

Observed on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. Here are some of the most famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“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.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

"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."

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?’”

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11 forgotten Martin Luther King Jr. quotes that show he was a revolutionary

These lesser-known MLK quotes about love, justice, and change shouldn’t be ignored.

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You hear them every year around this time: The famous, feel-good Martin Luther King Jr. quotes about looking over the mountaintop, about judging people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, about children in cross-racial friendships holding hands .

Of course, America's favorite civil rights sound bites don't represent King's entire life or worldview. It's no secret that he was more revolutionary than his most famous quotes suggest and that he talked about a lot more than just his famous "dream." And the quotes that do outline his broader vision tend to get ignored — because they're more sobering than inspiring, or because they're too specific to be deployed by commentators seeking to invoke King in support of their own opinions.

That's too bad. Many of the sentiments that are less quotable — that don't lend themselves to mugs or T-shirts — are the very same ones that demonstrate King's most interesting and impressive qualities: He was insightful, edgy, funny, bold, and not at all shy with the criticism— plus, he was pretty good at predicting the future.

Here are a few of the best lesser-known MLK quotes, on everything from the work of William Faulkner to the Vietnam War.

1) In March 1956, speaking at the Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York — his first address in the North since the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott — he dropped the soaring rhetoric and made the sentiment underlying the protest very plain:

Today's expression in Montgomery is the expression of 50,000 people who are tired of being pushed around.

2) And he was perfectly clear about the source of the conflict surrounding the civil rights movement:

Yes, there are tensions in the South. But the tension we experience there is due to the revolutionary reevaluation of the Negro by himself.

3) He proved he wasn't afraid to point out the ignorance of his critics. He had this remark for William Faulkner, who'd recently said the civil rights activists should calm down while white people got used to the idea of Black people having equal rights. King's message was essentially, "Sorry, not gonna happen":

We can't slow up because of our love for democracy and our love for America. Someone should tell Faulkner that the vast majority of the people on this globe are colored.

4) He used a little bit of humor to explain how messed up things were in the South:

Dixie has a heart all right. But it's having a little heart trouble right now.

5) In the address he delivered at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march on March 25, 1965 , he gave credit where credit was due to white allies — with a nod to the idea that the "ugly" tradition of racism was nothing that anyone should be getting all sentimental about:

On our part we must pay our profound respects to the white Americans who cherish their democratic traditions over the ugly customs and privileges of generations and come forth boldly to join hands with us.

6) He also broke some news to poor white people: They weren't exactly winning in a segregated society:

If it may be said of the slavery era that the white man took the world and gave the Negro Jesus, then it may be said of the Reconstruction era that the southern aristocracy took the world and gave the poor white man Jim Crow.

7) In a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam," delivered in New York on April 4, 1967, he showed he didn't see anything through rose-colored glasses, and admitted that he wasn't super hopeful about America’s prospects in Southeast Asia:

The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve.

8) He made it very clear that in his view, no one was excused from working for justice, saying, "Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest."

9) Sadly, he made a pretty decent prediction in this "rallies without end" bit:

The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy.

10) He admonished those who couldn't see the structural forces in need of combating:

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

11) He called for an endless battle (against the right targets, of course) saying, "Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."

So tell your friends you're celebrating King's life this year by refusing to be pushed around.

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Martin Luther King Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on martin luter king.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African-American leader in the U.S. He lost his life while performing a peaceful protest for the betterment of blacks in America. His real name was Michael King Jr. He completed his studies and attained a Ph.D. After that, he joined the American Civil Right Movement. He was among one of the great men who dedicated their life for the community.

Reason for Martin Luther King to be famous

There are two reasons for someone to be famous either he is a good man or a very bad person. Martin Luther King was among the good one who dedicated his life to the community. Martin Luther King was also known as MLK Jr. He gained popularity after he became the leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Martin Luther King was an American activist, minister, and humanitarian. Also, he had worked for several other causes and actively participated in many protests and boycotts. He was a peaceful man that has faith in Christian beliefs and non-violence. Also, his inspiration for them was the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. For his work in the field of civil rights, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was a great speaker that motivated the blacks to protest using non-violence. Also, he uses peaceful strategies like a boycott, protest march , and sit-ins, etc. for protests against the government.

Impact of King

King is one of the renowned leaders of the African-American who worked for the welfare of his community throughout his life. He was very famous among the community and is the strongest voice of the community. King and his fellow companies and peaceful protesters forced the government several times to bend their laws. Also, kings’ life made a seismic impact on life and thinking of the blacks. He was among one of the great leaders of the era.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Humanitarian and civil rights work

As we know that King was a civic leader . Also, he has taken part in many civil right campaigns and boycotts like the Bus Boycott, Voting Rights and the most famous March on Washington. In this march along with more than 200,000 people, he marched towards Washington for human right. Also, it’s the largest human right campaign in U.S.A. history. During the protest, he gave a speech named “I Have a Dream” which is history’s one of the renowned speeches.

Death and memorial

During his life working as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement he makes many enemies. Also, the government and plans do everything to hurt his reputation. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Every year the US celebrates his anniversary as Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US. Also, they honored kings’ memory by naming school and building after him and a Memorial at Independence Mall.

Martin Luther King was a great man who dedicated his whole life for his community. Also, he was an active leader and a great spokesperson that not only served his people but also humanity. It was due to his contribution that the African-American got their civil rights.

Essay Topics on Famous Leaders

• Mahatma Gandhi
• APJ Abdul Kalam
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Swami Vivekananda
• Mother Teresa
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Subhash Chandra Bose
• Abraham Lincoln
• Martin Luther King

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7 Martin Luther King Jr. quotes that resonate today

Enduring legacy: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington Image:  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

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• The third Monday of January marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• The civil rights leader was born on 15 January, 1929, and died after being shot in April 1968.
• His most famous quotes resonate more than ever in the year following the death of George Floyd and the global protests that followed.
• This article was updated on 18 January 2021.

While the marches and parades that usually celebrate the life of America's most recognized civil rights leader have been paused this year, virtual events will still commemorate Martin Luther King Jr .

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day - a federal holiday in the US, which is celebrated on the third Monday of January and marks his birthday on January 15.

Many will use this day to continue campaigning for the equal world that Martin Luther King wanted to create - particularly following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, which sent shockwaves around the globe and sparked Black Lives Matters protests.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Baptist minister rallied many to the cause of civil rights in America. A passionate believer in non-violent protest, his most powerful weapon was his words.

King delivered some of the world’s most famous speeches that are still remembered – and remain particularly relevant – today.

These are seven of his most famous quotes:

1. “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

2. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

3. “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.”

4. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

5. “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.”

6. “It is not enough to say ‘We must not wage war’. It is necessary to love peace and to sacrifice for it.”

7. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Martin Luther King was born on 15 January, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a passionate campaigner for civil rights using non-violent forms of protest, such as organising boycotts of bus companies that enforced segregation, and marches to highlight the inequality between blacks and whites. He won widespread support including, in 1963, that of President John F. Kennedy.

Later that same year King gave his famous “I have a dream speech” to a crowd of 250,000 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In it, he painted a picture of a future when all people would be treated equally. In 1964, the American government brought in the Civil Rights Act, ending the separation of whites and blacks in public facilities and accommodations. King won the Nobel Peace prize later that year.

In April 1968, King was shot and killed on his motel balcony while preparing to lead a march in Memphis.

More than 50 years after his death, racial tensions are still prevalent in the United States. 2020 saw protests across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

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Home / Guides / Topic Guides / Martin Luther King Jr.: Biography, Quotes, and Facts

Martin Luther King Jr.: Biography, Quotes, and Facts

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American minister and activist who was one of the most effective and visible activists for the American Civil Rights Movement. He emphasized civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance and protest. In honor of the contributions Martin Luther King made to society, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been an American federal holiday since 1986.

Biographical information

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Theoretically, this should make it easy to answer the question, “ When is Martin Luther King Day ?”, but it’s not as straightforward as that. Instead of celebrating his life and works on January 15 every year, the American government instead marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. Day was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, some states resisted fully observing the holiday by renaming it or combining it with other holidays. To this day, some states still honor Martin Luther King on the same day as other celebrations.

King was active in the civil rights movement from a relatively early age; his father, with whom he shared his name, was an activist as well. King was a talented public speaker and a devout Christian who entered the ministry. He was called as a pastor by the age of 25, taking a post at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama while also pursuing his PhD.

It was in 1955 that King began his more visible civil rights activism as a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. He and several other activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was created to organize and direct the power (and moral leadership) of black churches towards civil rights reformation, focusing on civil disobedience and nonviolent protest.

Martin Luther King Jr. worked extensively for more than a decade to pursue a path of firm but non-violent civil rights activism. Despite this, the fact that he was working for civil rights at all put a target on his back. In 1958, a mentally ill woman approached him at a book signing and stabbed him in the chest, convinced that he was conspiring against her with communists. He also was surveilled by the FBI, who feared the civil rights movements and were paranoid that communists were using it as a front.

Citing some works by Martin Luther King? Brush up on MLA format , APA format , and more styles with our handy guides!

Martin Luther King Jr. quotes and facts

Looking for Martin Luther King quotes for your paper? Wondering how a Martin Luther King Jr. speech is still relevant today? Need to check that you’ve got the right quote from the Martin Luther King I Have a Dream speech ? We’ve got you covered, with Martin Luther King Jr. facts plus some important quotes.

Quotes from Dr. King

Among the Martin Luther King Jr. speeches , the most famous is the Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream speech. In fact, many of the Martin Luther King Jr. quotes you know probably come from this speech! We hear quotes from it every Martin Luther King day , so a little background info is probably in order.

The speech I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King was delivered on August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington. Many of the most important Martin Luther King quotes come from this speech, which calls for action on civil rights and frames it as a dream of a beautiful, equal, and unified future. On the next Martin Luther King Day , remember the great civil rights leader with his eloquent words. Without further ado: some selected quotes from this iconic Martin Luther King Jr. speech :

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”

“It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.”

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.”

“As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

“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. I have a dream today.”

“When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes aren’t just limited to his most famous address. Among the most important Martin Luther King Jr. facts is that he wrote and spoke frequently; his training as a preacher was a cornerstone of his rhetorical style. While it’s not literally a Martin Luther King speech , his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a masterpiece of written rhetoric, and it’s home to many famous quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ’I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’”

Other notable quotes came from his other speeches and writings:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” –   How Long, Not Long speech, 1965.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”  — from the book Strength to Love , 1963.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”  — Oberlin College commencement speech, 1965.

Martin Luther King facts

Ready for basic facts about Martin Luther King Jr. ? Here are the answers to a few frequently asked questions.

• Where was Martin Luther King born ? He was born in Atlanta, Georgia
• What was his profession? He was a preacher and an activist
• Did he have a family? Yes, a wife (Coretta Scott King) and four children
• Where did he die? He died in Memphis, Tennessee, assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel at the age of 39.
• What day is his national holiday? The third Monday in January honors Dr. King.

Check out this link for more info, or you can click here for other sources, opinions, and facts Martin Luther King Jr. discussed.

Martin Luther King Jr. information

Dr. king’s beliefs.

Throughout his career, King was a strong advocate of dignified, non-violent, civil protests, in contrast to some of the more militant practices advocated by other groups. King was a Baptist pastor, and he drew on his faith, as well as the non-violent protest tactics of Mahatma Gandhi, when advocating for action. This did not necessarily make him a “moderate,” however. King expressed disdain for “moderates” who advocated a both-sides, slow-paced approach.

King publicly held controversial beliefs other than his civil rights activism. He was outspoken on the matters of economic justice – especially, but not limited to, where it intersected with racial justice – and the anti-Vietnam War movement. He supported universal basic income and attempted to create a multi-racial coalition to press for the government to do more to address rising poverty.

Writing a paper about Dr. King? Make sure that you cite all your information correctly. The tools at EasyBib.com can help you put together a fantastic MLA works cited or APA reference page . And it’s not just for print sources! Whether you need to cite websites in MLA or create an APA book citation or APA journal citation, EasyBib.com has the resources you need. It’s the APA citation website you need – plus a top-notch plagiarism checker !

Further biographical information

Let’s start with the basic information: when was Martin Luther King born ? He was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Although January 15 is the actual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday , the federal holiday honoring him is a moveable one, sitting on the third Monday of each January.

King’s involvement with the civil rights movement began in a visible, tangible way with the Montgomery bus boycotts, then quickly spread. He and his colleagues at the SCLC mobilized supporters for widespread non-violent actions to protest segregation in the South; their Birmingham campaign in 1963 met with major resistance but was largely successful.

Also, 1963 was the year that King made the speech that would define his legacy. The March on Washington brought over 250,000 people to the nation’s capital to call for civil rights legislation, an end to segregation, minimum wage reform, and more. King made a seventeen-minute speech and, towards the end, went-off script, possibly in reaction to Mahalia Jackson calling out, “Tell them about the dream!” The subsequent remarks gave his speech its name: “I Have a Dream.”

Two years later, in 1965, King again was part of a tense march: this one from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights. After several false starts, the march finally went ahead. The following year, he became involved in the hotbed of Chicago race relations, fighting for the housing movement.

King’s influence was remarkable, but it was cut short. The Martin Luther King Jr. assassination occurred on April 4, 1968.

King made a speech at a rally on April 3. His planned flight back to Memphis had been delayed due to a bomb threat made to his plane, and he incorporated some of that into his address. In the speech, King meditated on the possibility of violence and that he might not get to see “the promised land” of civil rights. Even so, he reassured his people that their goals would be reached, someday, and that he himself was not afraid.

That speech proved to be eerily prescient. The next day, on the evening of April 4, King was standing on the balcony of his usual room at the Lorraine Motel in the early evening, prior to an event he was scheduled to attend. He was shot by James Earl Ray at 6:01 pm. Despite undergoing emergency surgery, he was pronounced dead an hour later.

King left behind a legacy of nonviolent but firm protest and a singular influence on the civil rights movement in the United States. Along with his colleagues, he helped turn the tide of public opinion in support of civil rights, and he was unusually progressive overall, at least in private, for his era. When we celebrate the Martin Luther King birthday every year as a national holiday, it’s because he was an ideal example of unwavering beliefs, persuasive rhetoric, and combining insistence with dignity.

Citation information

If you’re citing this article or any of Dr. King’s works, make sure to format it properly! EasyBib citation tools can help with an APA citation (or an APA in-text citation ) for any source. Make sure to use an APA parenthetical citation when needed, or MLA in-text & parenthetical citations . Finally, whether you need an MLA or APA bibliography , or a different style altogether, EasyBib.com has you covered.

More topic guides

For more information about prominent figures, check out the full EasyBib collection of biographical study guides :

• Muhammad Ali
• Winston Churchill
• Albert Einstein
• Abraham Lincoln  
• Marilyn Monroe
• Mother Teresa  
• Mark Twain  

Carson, Clayborne, ed. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. , 1998.

Fairclough, Adam.  To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King Jr . University of Georgia Press, 1987.

“Martin Luther King Jr.” Wikipedia , Wikimedia Foundation, 5 May 2019, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Lewis, David L. and Clayborne Carson. “Martin Luther King, Jr.: American Religious Leader and Civil-Rights Activist.” Encyclopaedia Britannica , 3 May 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.  (1986)

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181 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes — Beyond His Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent civil rights leader who is best known for his advocacy for racial equality and his effort to gain economic justice for poor people — and his use of nonviolent resistance to achieve social change. 

And, of course, we already know this. 

We learn about King in school, we celebrate MLK Day every year, and we hear no shortage of references to the late activist in media and culture.

According to a CBS poll , 95% of Americans say King was an important figure in American history — and according to a poll from YouGov , 89% of Americans have a positive view of King. While it’s compelling that King is seen largely positively today, public opinion of him was incredibly negative during his lifetime. The final Gallup poll to ask about his popularity during his lifetime — in 1966 — found his unfavorable rating to be 63%.

While much of the progress we’ve seen in the way Americans perceive King comes from a place of genuine cultural change and understanding — there’s no denying that the image of King has been distorted over time to make his bold, radical message more “palatable.” 

Textbooks take an oversimplified approach to his work, public references focus all-too-often on a small number of his quotes, and his words in general have been co-opted by those who seek to downplay the ongoing issues of racism and discrimination in the United States. 

These individuals may use King’s speeches and writings to promote a false narrative of “colorblindness” and the idea that racism is no longer a significant problem in American society. Some might point to King’s commitment to nonviolent resistance as a way to silence those who favor more radical action against racism. You might also see folks quoting his words out of context (intentionally or otherwise), damaging and misrepresenting his legacy in the process.

It is extremely important to remember the true message of King’s legacy and to continue to fight for racial justice and equality on a system-wide level; not just on a narrow, individualistic experience of social justice. 

This means recognizing the ongoing impact of racism and discrimination and not allowing King’s words to be used to downplay their relevance. It also means supporting the work of those who continue to fight for change and taking action to create a more just and equitable society.

We set out to create a resource that included all of King’s most iconic quotes and his more bold and radical quotes that you won’t find in other quote collections.

In this article you’ll find King’s quotes organized into the following categories: Famous Quotes | Radical & Lesser-Known | Especially Relevant | Equality | Justice | Non-Violence | Hope | Life | Change | Freedom | Love | Faith | Courage | Leadership | Peace | Education | Humanity | Short | From His “I Have a Dream” Speech | More Quotes

Our hope is that you’ll be encouraged to go beyond the clichés as you seek to read and share quotes from King. And we’ve also included links to speeches or relevant books wherever possible, so you can better understand the quotes in context.

And most importantly, we hope you’ll go beyond reading and sharing quotes by finding a way to take action in line with King’s fight for racial and economic equality.

Explore the ultimate guide to Martin Luther King Jr. quotes —

First, we’ll start with Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous and iconic quotes:

Famous MLK Quotes

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World

“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech , 1964

“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The time is always right to do what is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“A right delayed is a right denied.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“I have decided to stick to love… Hate is too great a burden to bear.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“There is no gain without struggle.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“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.

Radical & Important Quotes That Don’t Get As Much Attention

“The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Something is wrong with capitalism. Maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism. We must develop programs that will drive the nation to the realization of the need for a guaranteed annual income.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor – both black and white, both here and abroad. ” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Three Evils of Society , 1967

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?… It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Other America, 1968

“I contend that the cry of “Black Power” is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro. I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.” — Martin Luther King Jr., in an interview with Mike Wallace , 1966

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Revolution of Values, 1967

“White Americans must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society. ” — Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? , 1967

“A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him, in order to equip him to compete on a just and equal basis.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I had seen police brutality with my own eyes and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice in the court. All of these things had done something to my growing personality.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a… mass effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam , 1967

“The price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” — Martin Luther King Jr, The American Dream: July 4, 1965

“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.” — Martin Luther King Jr., in a speech to SCLC Board, 1967

“Why is equality so assiduously avoided? Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains? The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here , 1967

“For the good of America, it is necessary to refute the idea that the dominant ideology in our country even today is freedom and equality while racism is just an occasional departure from the norm on the part of a few bigoted extremists.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“All we say to America is: be true to what you said on paper.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes That Feel Especially Important Right Now

“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshippers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers say, ‘follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother.’” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, ‘those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern.’, and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely other-worldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

→ Read more of the best quotes about activism

About Equality

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact... that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We’ve learned to fly the air like birds, we’ve learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven’t learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters...” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here

“The ultimate logic of racism is genocide.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best quotes about poverty → Read more of the best quotes about homelessness → Read more of the best quotes about hunger

About Justice

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.” — 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 unjust laws.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“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.

“So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. ” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“And one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The Universe is on the side of Justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” — 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 unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘ an unjust law is no law at all.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best MLK quotes about justice → Read more of the best quotes about justice → Read more of the best quotes about social justice

About Nonviolence

“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves, never brings permanent peace.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope

“The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That’s all.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope

“We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Capital punishment is against the best judgment of modern criminology and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God.” ‍ — Martin Luther King Jr., in an interview with Ebony magazine

“Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies... for what we are doing is right, what we are doing is just -- and God is with us.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than to seek his understanding. It seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Instead of eliminating evil, violence multiplies it.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of MLK’s best quotes about nonviolence

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

→ Read more of the best quotes about hope → Read more of the best quotes about optimism

“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

“Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

“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.

“It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn’t get written because someone knocked on the door.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I guess one of the great agonies of life is that we are constantly trying to finish that which is unfinishable” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more quotes about life

About Change

“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., Why We Can’t Wait

“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.

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” — Martin Luther King Jr. 

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best quotes about making a difference → Read more of the best quotes about change

About Freedom

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you’re nobody.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Freedom is not won by a passive acceptance of suffering. Freedom is won by a struggle against suffering. By this measure, Negroes have not yet paid the full price for freedom. And whites have not yet faced the full cost of justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here , 1967

“The road to freedom is a difficult, hard road. It always makes for temporary setbacks.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Perhaps… the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope

“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.

“One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong” — Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love

“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.

“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Without love, there is no reason to know anyone, for love will in the end connect us to our neighbors, our children and our hearts.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“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.

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here , 1967

→ Read more of the best positive quotes

 About Faith

“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.

“Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

“Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of [people] willing to be co-workers with God.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but one day that same Christ will rise up and split history into A.D. and B.C., so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

About Courage

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?” — Martin Luther King Jr.

There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right...” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Courage faces fear and thereby masters it” — Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love

“We must substitute courage for caution.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We did not hesitate to call our movement an army. But it was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

“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.

“Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best quotes about courage

About Leadership

“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“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. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.” — Martin Luther King Jr., in a speech in Selma , AL, March 8, 1965

“Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” — Martin Luther King Jr., in the “ Domestic Impact of the War ” speech, November 1967

About Peace

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“It is not enough to say, ‘We must not wage war.’ It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but the positive affirmation of peace.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I suggested that the philosophy and strategy of non-violence become immediately a subject for study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict, including relations between nations. This was not, I believe, an unrealistic suggestion. World peace through non-violent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Non-violence is a good starting point.” — Martin Luther King Jr.  

“This is the unusual thing about nonviolence -- nobody is defeated, everybody shares in the victory.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace, I was a drum major for righteousness.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Be the peace you wish to see in the world.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must find an alternative to war and bloodshed.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best quotes about inner peace → Read more of the best quotes about world peace

About Education

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. ” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I said to my children, ‘I’m going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don’t ever want you to forget that there are millions of God’s children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don’t want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Nothing pains some people more than having to think” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Education is the key to unlock the Golden door of Freedom” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

On Humanity

“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.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man’s ever-recurring song of retaliation.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.” — Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight

→ Read more of the best quotes about humanity

Short Quotes

“Let freedom ring.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Unearned suffering is redemptive.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“No lie can live forever.” — Martin Luther King Jr., in the “ How Long, Not Long ” speech in Montgomery, AL, March 25, 1965

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Hate destroys the hater...” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“A lie cannot live.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Babies, we are told, are the latest news from heaven.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Violence is not only impractical but immoral.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

→ Read more of the best short quotes

From the I Have a Dream speech

“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“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., I Have a Dream

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked 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., I Have a Dream

“We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“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 down together at the table of brotherhood.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“I have a dream! To be free at last! Free at last! Free at last. And if a man has nothing to die for, Then his life is worth nothing.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering in the heat of injustice and oppression, will one day be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

“I have a dream. I have a dream that one day, people will be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.” — Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream

About His Wife and Children

“My devoted wife has been a constant source of consolation to me through all the difficulties. In the midst of the most tragic experiences, she never became panicky or over-emotional. I have come to see the real meaning of that rather trite statement: a wife can either make or break a husband. My wife was always stronger than I was through the struggle.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“When I thought of my future, I also thought of my family. I had to think of what’s best for them also.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.

→ Read more of the best quotes from Coretta Scott King → Read more of the best quotes from Bernice King

More Quotes from Dr. King

“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized, cruelly mocked, but it an never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“I am what I am because of who we all are.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“When you are right, you cannot be too radical; When you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK quotes that go beyond “I have a dream”

Article Details

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

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.

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.

You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.

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.

It is always the right time to do the right thing.

The SILENCE of the good people is more DANGEROUS than the BRUTALITY of the bad people

May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership... Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.

The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

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.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Never, never be afraid to do what's right.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Vanity asks, is it popular? Politics ask, will it work? But conscience and morality ask, is it right?

Be The Peace You Wish To See In The World!

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

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.

I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.

If you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl, but keep moving forward!

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.

The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Born: January 15, 1929
• Died: April 4, 1968
• Occupation: Civil rights activist
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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Martin Luther King — Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s Historic Speech

Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King's Historic Speech

• Categories: I Have a Dream Martin Luther King

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Words: 648 |

Published: Mar 6, 2024

Words: 648 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

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On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic speech, "I Have a Dream." The speech has since become one of the most famous and influential speeches in American [...]

Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent figure in the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. On August 28th, 1963, he gave a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. that has become known as one of the most [...]

In his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. utilized various literary devices to effectively convey his message of equality and justice [...]

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Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” address falls under the broad genre of non-fiction persuasive prose in the form of a speech. It is broadly targeted at all American citizens; black and white civil rights activists, as well [...]

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