Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"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."

"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."

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

"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 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 learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

"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."

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

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

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

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

"If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

"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."

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

"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."

"The time is always right to do what is right."

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

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

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

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

"That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing."

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

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."

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

"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important."

"I submit that 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 law."