Quotes

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
-Martin Luther King

The time is always right to do what is right.
-Martin Luther King

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
-Martin Luther King

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
-Martin Luther King

When you are right you cannot be too radical. When you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
-Martin Luther King

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-Martin Luther King

If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
-Martin Luther King

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
-Martin Luther King

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
-Martin Luther King

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man' what will happen to him?
-Martin Luther King

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.
-Martin Luther King

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
-Martin Luther King

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
-Martin Luther King

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

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?
-Martin Luther King

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
-Martin Luther King

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
-Martin Luther King

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
-Martin Luther King

Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.
-Martin Luther King

A riot is the language of the unheard.
-Martin Luther King

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
-Martin Luther King

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.
-Martin Luther King

We must use time creatively.
-Martin Luther King

The quality not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.
-Martin Luther King

Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
-Martin Luther King

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
-Martin Luther King

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
-Martin Luther King

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
-Martin Luther King

I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.
-Martin Luther King

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
-Martin Luther King