80+ Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr: Empowering the Movement

Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.

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

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

We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.

Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.

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

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

Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

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

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

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

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

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

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

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.

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 moral law.

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

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

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

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.

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.

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

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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.

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.

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.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.

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.

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

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.

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.

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.

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

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

We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.

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

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.

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 decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

There can be no deep disappointment where there is no deep love.

I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems.

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

Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love…violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.

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

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

In some not-too-distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

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.

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

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.

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

Nothing worthwhile is gained without sacrifice.

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.

If democracy is to have a breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

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

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

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.

Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

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

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

The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

This faith can give us the courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom.

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

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

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

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.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

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.