A lot has been written about Martin Luther’s legacy. King was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
The father of the reformation, he’s known for many things— Martin Luther King Jr’ I Have a Dream: writings and speeches had a profound impact on the world. Part of the appeal of Kings’ teachings and his famous speeches was his ability to capture deep, profound biblical truths in ways that are easy to comprehend but force you to wrestle through them to truly understand. George Washington is the only other American to have had his birthday observed as a national holiday.
Here’s a look back at some of King’s most powerful quotes.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King
- “You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”
- “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.”
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
- “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.”
- “Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”
- “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
- “I have decided to stick to love … Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
- “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.”
- “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”
- “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”
- “We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.”
- “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”
- “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”
- “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”
- “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
- “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
- “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.”
- “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”
- “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
- “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”
- “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
- “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
- “Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education.”
- “We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”
- “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
- “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.”
- “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
- 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.
- “If you want to interpret well and confidently, set Christ before you, for He is the man to whom it all applies, every bit of it.”
- “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.”
- “We are nothing with all our gifts be they ever so great, except God assist us.”
- “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land.”
