January 16th, 2018 | Updated on March 1st, 2021
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement.
Few figures in history had the power of Martin Luther King Jr. to move so many with so few words. Here are his top 30 most inspiring quotes.
1. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.-Martin Luther King Jr.
2. I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.-Martin Luther King Jr.
3. Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.-Martin Luther King Jr.
4. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.-Martin Luther King Jr.
5. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.-Martin Luther King Jr.
6. Only in the darkness can you see the stars.-Martin Luther King Jr.
7. 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.-Martin Luther King Jr.
8. 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.-Martin Luther King Jr.
9. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.-Martin Luther King Jr.
10. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.-Martin Luther King Jr.
11. 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.-Martin Luther King Jr.
12. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.-Martin Luther King Jr.
13. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ”-Martin Luther King Jr.
14.“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
15. “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
16. “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.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
17. “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
18. “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
19. “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows”-Martin Luther King Jr.
20. “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
21. “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
22. “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
23. “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
24. “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.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
25. “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
26. “The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
27. “A riot is the language of the unheard.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
28. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
29. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”-Martin Luther King Jr.
30. “When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative. ”-Martin Luther King Jr.
