30+ Inspirational Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. That Will Ignite Your Passion for Justice and Equality

 

1. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
2. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
3. "The time is always right to do what is right."
4. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
5. "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."
6. "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.'"
7. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
8. "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
9. "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."
10. "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."
11. "The time is always right to do what is right."
12. "We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now."
13. "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
14. "We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
15. "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
16. "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
17. "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."
18. "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love."
19. "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."
20. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
21. "The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important."
22. "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
23. "There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth."
24. "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."
25. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality."
26. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
27. "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."
28. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
29. "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."
30. "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."