The quotations of

Martin Luther King Jr.

American Baptist minister and civil rights leader

1929–1968

84 quotes, most often on Race, War & Peace and Love.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, Steeler Lecture, November 1967.
- Friendship
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousnes (1960)
- Justice
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.
I Have a Dream (1963)
- Race
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Cobo Center speech (1963)
- Life & Death
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.
The Drum Major Instinct (1968)
- Love
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
- Faith
Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.
The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)
- Race
Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.
1968 version
- Morality
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
- Hope
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 host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
- Work
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
Beverly Hills California, (February 25, 1967); as quoted in “Martin Luther King Jr. On the Vietnam War”, The Atlantic.
- War & Peace
Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore Gandhi at our own risk.
- War & Peace
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)
- Charity
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
- Freedom
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.
Strength to Love, p. 25
- Virtue

Often credited to Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes often credited to Martin Luther King Jr. that were said or written by someone else.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
Martin Luther1483–1546Often credited to Martin Luther King Jr.
A lie cannot live.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Often credited to Martin Luther King Jr.
- Truth & Lies

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