I’ve compiled these quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. to celebrate the birthday of a man whose courage, vision and greatness touched countless lives with the gift of a deeply powerful, eternally relevant message. The message is one of pure truth, love, peace and respect for all of humanity.
Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.
1. 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.
2. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
3. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
4. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace.
5. The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 the law.
11. 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.
12. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
13. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.
14. Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
15. We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
16. The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
17. 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.
18. A lie cannot live.
19. If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo 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 streetsweeper who did his job well.
20. 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.
21. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
22. 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.
23. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
24. Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.
25. 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.
26. We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
27. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
28. Hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates.
29. Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
30. 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.
I hope you enjoyed these 30 Martin Luther King Jr. quotes, and that you found them reflective of who he was and what he stood for. He gave his life for the dream that he so deeply believed in- a dream that included you, me and everyone around us. Join me in paying it forward by seizing opportunities to keep that dream alive.
It’s comment time. What can be done? What do you stand for? What will you do?
Nea is a Life Transformation Coach who believes happiness should never be optional.
If you’re ready to live a happier, more fulfilling life and you want to know how Nea can help you overcome what stands in your way, contact her now or click the link here to learn more about life coaching
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Hi, I'm Nea. As a 
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Hi Nea! Great quote list!
#27 “What are you doing for others?” is really profound and powerful.
Here’s another one :
“A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” Martin Luther King Jr
Valuable information. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
Thank you Hollis. I appreciate your comment.
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