Martin Luther King Jr. is an iconic figure in the history of the United States, who had a profound impact not only on the Civil Rights movement but also on our country’s future. A man of peace, Dr. King is best known for his “I Have A Dream” speech, but there are many other inspirational quotes that may be less well-known.
Martin Luther King Jr Day Quotes
- 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.
- There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
- 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.
- The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus
- We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right
We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
- 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.
- 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.
- The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows
- MLK Jr Quote “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear”
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King Jr. - 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.
- 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.
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.
