On Monday, Jan. 16 this year, we celebrate the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr – arguably the most important and influential, and certainly the most famous, American civil rights leader of all time. We observe MLK Day on the third Monday in January, though King was actually born on Tuesday, Jan. 15. (Read about the origins of every American federal holiday.)
Following in the footsteps of his father, Martin Luther King Sr., who was an early advocate of racial equality as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the younger King became a prominent activist himself as early as the mid-1950s, preaching the gospel of nonviolent resistance to defeat Jim Crow laws and institutionalized racism.
His concerns for peace and justice also led King to oppose the Vietnam War, and he became a tireless advocate for fair housing and labor practices and an enemy of economic injustice. It was while he was in Memphis to support a strike by Black sanitation workers, in fact, that he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. (Here’s more about Dr. King and the 49 other most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century.)
A large part of King’s success was due to the fact that he was one of the great orators of the 20th century, legendary for his cadences, mastery of rhetoric, and rich, powerful, unmistakable voice. But it was what he said even more than how he said it that resonates so strongly today. He wasted no words, even though he often repeated phrases for effect, and his language was both elegant and emotionally accessible.
Click here to read 32 powerful quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.
To compile a list of some of the most famous things Rev. Martin Luther King said, including quotes on such subjects as justice, war, love, and peace, 24/7 Tempo referred to transcripts of MLK’s speeches from various sources as well as articles in the Washington Post and other publications about King’s life. The exact date of the quote is given where possible.
Admonition to his congregation – 1954
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
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Sunday sermon – 1955
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.
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The Most Durable Power – November 6, 1956
Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter.
Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church – Nov, 6, 1956
Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
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In Alabama Tribune – 1957
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.
Montgomery, Alabama – 1957
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
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March for Integrated Schools – April 18, 1959
Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.
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Spelman College – 1960
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.
– September 12, 1962
Faith is taking the first step when you don’t see the whole staircase.
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‘Strength to Love’ – 1963
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
Letter from the Birmingham Jail – April 16, 1963
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
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‘I Have A Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial – Aug. 28, 1963
Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.
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‘I Have A Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial – Aug. 28, 1963
We cannot walk alone.
‘I Have A Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial – Aug. 28, 1963
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
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‘I Have A Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial – Aug. 28, 1963
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
‘I Have A Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial – Aug. 28, 1963
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.
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‘Strength to Love’ – 1963
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Letter from the Birmingham Jail – 1963
A right delayed is a right denied.
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Nobel Peace Prize acceptance – 1964
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.
Speech in St. Louis – March 22, 1964
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
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Speech at Oberlin College – October 22, 1964
The time is always right to do what is right.
Nobel Peace Prize lecture – December 11, 1964
I have the personal faith that mankind will somehow rise up to the occasion and give new directions to an age drifting rapidly to its doom
Nobel Peace Prize lecture – December 11, 1964
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 b
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Nobel Peace Prize lecture – December 11, 1964
Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.
Paraphrased from a sermon in Selma – March 8, 1965
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
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Speech in Selma – March 8, 1965
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
Where do we go from here? – August 16, 1967
Hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love.
The Trumpet of Conscience – November 1967
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
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Anti-War Conference in Los Angeles – February 26, 1967
I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world.
A Proper Sense of Priorities – February 6, 1968
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.
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Washington National Cathedral – March 31, 1968
We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
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