117 Martin Luther King Quotes Click To Tweet

Martin Luther King Quotes

1. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl. But by all means, keep moving.” – Martin Luther King

2. “True compassion is more than flinging a coin at a begger. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs reconstructing.” – Martin Luther King

3. “A nation continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” – Martin Luther King

4. “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects on directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I out to be until you are what you out to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.” – Martin Luther King

5. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

6. “But the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform oppsoers into friends. it is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring miracles in the heart of men.” – Martin Luther King

7. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King

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

9. “The function of education is to teach on the think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King

10. “We are not makers of history, we are made by history.” – Martin Luther King

11. “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish as fools.” – Martin Luther King

12. 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

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

14. “In the end we will remember not the worlds of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King

15. “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King

16. “Lightening makes no sound until it strikes.” – Martin Luther King

17. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” – Martin Luther King

18. “I may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.” – Martin Luther King

19. “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King

20. “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” – Martin Luther King

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

22. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question – ‘What are we doing for others.'” – Martin Luther King

23. “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

24. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King

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

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

27. “Education without morals is like a ship without a compass, merely wandering nowhere.” – Martin Luther King

28. “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

29. “The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” – Martin Luther King

30. “Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” – Martin Luther King

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

32. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort an convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King

33. “WE must rapidly begin to shift from a “thing oriented” society to a “person oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are capable of being conquered.” – Martin Luther King

34. “Love, even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world.” – Martin Luther King

35. “But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn rights. If 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 rebellion to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language is the unheard.” – Martin Luther King

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

37. “We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization.” – Martin Luther King

38. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” – Martin Luther King

39. “Cannons and fire-arms are cruel and damnable machines; I believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the Devil. If Adam had seen in a vision of the horrible instruments of his children were to invent, he would have died of grief.” – Martin Luther King

40. “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” – Martin Luther King

41. “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

42. “The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” – Martin Luther King

43. “To ignore evil is to become accomplice to it.” – Martin Luther King

44. “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 world.” – Martin Luther King

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

46. “Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” – Martin Luther King

47. “I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world.” – Martin Luther King

48. “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

49. “There comes a time where silence is betrayal.”- Martin Luther King

50. “It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor for justice of all people.” – Martin Luther King

51. “I say to you today, my friends. That in spite of the difficulties and frustrations at the moment, I still have a dream.” – Martin Luther King

52. “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 heat full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King

53. “I have learned this art: when I have nothing more to say, I stop talking.” – Martin Luther King

54. “To be a Christian without prayer is no possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther King

55. “What matters is not how long you live, but how you live.” – Martin Luther King

56. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” – Martin Luther King

57. “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at state. Society’s punishments are small compared to wounds we inflict on our souls when we look the other way.” – Martin Luther King

58. “Be the peace you wish to see in the world.” – Martin Luther King

59. “Hatred paralyzes life, love releases it. Hatred confuses life, love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life, love illuminates it.” – Martin Luther King

60. “When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.” – Martin Luther King

61. “What matters is not how long you live, but how you live.” – Martin Luther King

62. “Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.” – Martin Luther King

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

64. “We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.” – Martin Luther King

65. “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

66. “Men often hate each other because they fear each other. They fear eacho ther because they don’t know each other, they don’t know each other because they cannot communicate. They cannot communicate because they are separated.” – Martin Luther King

67. “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars.” – Martine Luther King

68. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it is as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”- Martin Luther King

69. “There is no gain without struggle.” – Martin Luther King

70. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a constant attitude.” – Martin Luther King

71. “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”-  Martin Luther King

72. “As my suffering mounted, I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond. Either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force.”- Martin Luther King

73. “We must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is.” – Martin Luther King

74. “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.” – Martin Luther King

75. “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. They are complementary.” – Martin Luther King

76. “We must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy, but to win his friendship and misunderstanding.” – Martin Luther King

77. “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.” – Martin Luther King

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

79. “Some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It’s wrong to hate. It always will be wrong.” – Martin Luther King

80. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity.”- Martin Luther King

81. “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it’s the presence of justice.” – Martin Luther King

82. “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.” – Martin Luther King

83. “Let us be practical and ask the question how do we love our enemies.” – Martin Luther King

84. “The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for love or hate.” – Martin Luther King

85. “I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” – Martin Luther King

86. “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King

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

88. “Live like Jesus died yesterday. Rose this morning and is coming back tomorrow.” – Martin Luther King

89. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous then sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” – Martin Luther King

90. “A riot is the language of the unheard.” – Martin Luther King

91. “Non violence means avoid 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.” – Martin Luther King

92. “I have held many things in my hands and lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands that I still possess.” – Martin Luther King

93. “If we are to have peace on earth 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

94. “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom have always been nonconformists in any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!” – Martin Luther King

95. “The old law of an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” – Martin Luther King

96. “I will hate no man for I will give no man that power over me.” – Martin Luther King

97. “The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” – Martin Luther King

98. “I choose to indentify with the underprivileged, I choose to identify with the poor, I choose to give by life for the hungry, I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity. This is the way I’m going. IF it means suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heart a voice saying: Do something for others.” – Martin Luther King

99. “Your ignorance is their power.” – Martin Luther King

100. “Capitalism has outlived it’s usefulness, it takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.” – Martin Luther King

101. “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” – Martin Luther King

102. “Almost always the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” – Martin Luther King

103. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep the streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep the 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

104. “Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice.” – Martin Luther King

105. “There aren’t enough white persons in our country who are willing to cherish democratic principles over privilege.” – Martin Luther King

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

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

108. “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 is his stride toward freedom is not he White Citizen’s Counciler of the Klu 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

109. “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problems. It merely creates new and more complicated ones. 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 win his understanding. It seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” – Martin Luther King

110. “We may have all come on difference ships, but we are in the same boat now.” – Martin Luther King

111. “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, Only to take the profits with no concern for the social betterment of the countries and say “This is not just”.” – Martin Luther King

112. “Evil may so shape events that Caeser 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

113. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” – Martin Luther King

114. “It is better to go through life with a scarred up body than a scarred up soul.” – Martin Luther King

115. “Somewhere I read that the greatness of America was the right to protest for rights.” – Martin Luther King

116. “The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything ot teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.” – Martin Luther King

117. “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, buy you do not murder the hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.” – Martin Luther King

     Conclusion To Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr

So there you are my friends. I hope you enjoyed this list of MLK quotes and got value from them. May this American icon and visionary’s words live on! Share with me what you favorite ones were as well as if you have any to add! Much love.

 

Chris