Read: Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
On January 20, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day (his birthday is January 15). In honor of the day, we share the following quotes, full of profound wisdom, with visions of justice, love, and equality.
Dr. King’s vision for a better world transcends time, reminding us to choose love over hate, courage over fear, and action over silence. His timeless messages call us to reflect on our role in shaping a society grounded in peace, service, and unwavering commitment to justice.
We encourage you to read these quotes, and share your favorites among colleagues.
- “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
- “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- “The time is always right to do what is right.”
- “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.”
- “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 arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
- “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.”
- “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
- “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.”
- “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
- “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
- “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
- “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.”
- “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
- “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.”
- “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”
- “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
- “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
- “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.”
- “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
- “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
- “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.”
- “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a sword that heals and cuts without wounding.”
- “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos.”
- “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”
- “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
- “There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”
- “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it.”
- “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
- “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”
- “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
- “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”
- “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
- “Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
- “I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.”
- “Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant, and to face the challenge of change.”
- “The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new.”
- “Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being.”
- “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.”
- “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle.”
- “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.”
- “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”
- “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
- “Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the existence of justice for all people.”