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</style><title>17 Inspiring Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.biography.com/">https://www.biography.com/</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; word-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">17 Inspiring Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><a href="/author/bio-staff" phx-track-id="Author Name" rel="author" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;" class="byline">Bio Staff</a><span class="delimiter" style="margin: 0.07em 0.45em 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;"></span><time itemprop="dateModified" datetime="2020-01-14T11:50:51-08:00" title="2020-01-14T19:50:51Z" class="date" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Jan 14, 2020</time></div><div style="max-width: 100%;"><header style="max-width: 100%;"></header><div style="max-width: 100%;"><!-- tml-version="2" --><p style="max-width: 100%;">We will never forget <a href="https://www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s</a> trailblazing activism and soaring vision for a just America. After being assassinated on April 4, 1968, we are left with the eloquence of his words that continue to guide us forward as we strive to become a more perfect union. </p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Here are 17 inspiring quotes from MLK's famous speeches and writings about education, justice, hope, perseverance and freedom:</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“The Purpose of Education” from <a href="https://www.morehouse.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Morehouse College</a> student newspaper, <em style="max-width: 100%;">The Maroon Tiger</em>, 1947</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, 'brethren!' Be careful, teachers!” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“The Purpose of Education” from Morehouse College student newspaper, <em style="max-width: 100%;">The Maroon Tiger</em>, 1947</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—<em style="max-width: 100%;">Stride Toward Freedom</em>, 1958</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"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." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart” sermon, August 30, 1959</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"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." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—<em style="max-width: 100%;">Strength to Love,</em> 1963</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—"<a href="https://www.history.com/news/kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail-50-years-later" rel="noopener" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Letter From Birmingham Jail</a>," April 16, 1963</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—"Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."</strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—"<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/i-have-a-dream-speech" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">I Have A Dream" speech</a>, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—"I Have A Dream" speech in Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963 </p><div phx-gallery="" style="max-width: 100%;"><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks with people after delivering a sermon on May 13, 1956, in Montgomery, Alabama. </p>" data-full-height="1416" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyMDI1MTAw/martin-luther-king-jr-sermon-raw.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9daca860c" data-image-slug="martin-luther-king-jr-sermon-raw" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyMDI1MTAw" data-source-name="Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. spending time with his son, Martin III, and daughter Yolanda. </p>" data-full-height="1282" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyMTU2MTcy/martin-luther-king-jr-and-two-of-his-children.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01a8bfd61280860b" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Jr. and Two of His Children" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyMTU2MTcy" data-source-name="Photo: Marvin Koner/Corbis" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to a packed crowd at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1964, urging them to continue their demonstrations. Nashville saw seven days of racial demonstrations that began April 27, 1963. King arrived at the airport and told newsmen that he had not been asked to participate in the demonstrations. </p>" data-full-height="1279" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg3NzA4MTcz/martin-luther-king-speaking-at-fisk-university.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01a33b7a0a6f860e" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Speaking at Fisk University" data-public-id="MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg3NzA4MTcz" data-source-name="Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. waves to participants in the Civil Rights Movement's March on Washington from the Lincoln Memorial. It was from this spot that he delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech on August 28, 1963. </p>" data-full-height="1519" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg3ODM5MjQ1/martin-luther-king-jr-at-march-on-washington.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01a8bfd61283860b" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Jr. at March on Washington" data-public-id="MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg3ODM5MjQ1" data-source-name="Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS" data-source-page-url="" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. serves pieces of chicken to his young sons Marty and Dexter at this 1964 Sunday dinner.</p>" data-full-height="1342" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyNjgwNDYw/king-serving-chicken-to-sons.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci019b6c0218af860d" data-image-slug="King Serving Chicken to Sons" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyNjgwNDYw" data-source-name="Photo: Flip Schulke/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>King and his wife, Coretta, march with other civil rights activists through a neighborhood in Selma in 1965. </p>" data-full-height="1335" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyNzQ1OTk2/kings-marching-in-selma-neighborhood.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dad6860c" data-image-slug="Kings Marching in Selma Neighborhood" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyNzQ1OTk2" data-source-name="Photo: Flip Schulke/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr. tries a difficult behind-the-back shot while using his 'best stick' in a pool match with Chicago civil rights leader Al Raby, while on an anti-slum campaign in 1966. </p>" data-full-height="2000" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyOTQyNjA0/martin-luther-king-playing-pool.jpg" data-full-width="1866" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dad9860c" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Playing Pool" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODcyOTQyNjA0" data-source-name="Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr. leads a group of African American children to their newly integrated school in Grenada, Mississippi, escorted by folk singer Joan Baez and two aides. </p>" data-full-height="1518" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODczMjA0NzQ4/martin-luther-king-escorting-children.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dadd860c" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Escorting Children" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODczMjA0NzQ4" data-source-name="Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks with people after delivering a sermon on May 13, 1956 in Montgomery, Alabama.</p>" data-full-height="1451" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTYxMTM3MjAxOTExMTEzMjE4/5_civil-rights-leader-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-speaks-with-people-after-delivering-a-sermon-on-may-13-1956-in-montgomery-alabama-photo-by-michael-ochs-archivesgetty-images.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci023c796eb00024ae" data-image-slug="5_Civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks with people after delivering a sermon on May 13, 1956 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives:Getty Images)" data-public-id="MTYxMTM3MjAxOTExMTEzMjE4" data-source-name="Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr. with fellow civil rights leader Malcolm X.</p>" data-full-height="800" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTYxOTUyMTk4MjYyMDA3MDg2/mlk--malcolm-x---library-of-congress.jpg" data-full-width="1200" data-image-id="ci023f5eaaa000252e" data-image-slug="MLK + Malcolm x - Library of Congress" data-public-id="MTYxOTUyMTk4MjYyMDA3MDg2" data-source-name="Photo: Library of Congress" data-title="" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta, march together along a rural Mississippi road with the March Against Fear in 1966. </p>" data-full-height="1355" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNDAxMzU2/kings-marching-in-rural-mississippi.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dae0860c" data-image-slug="Kings Marching in Rural Mississippi" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNDAxMzU2" data-source-name="Photo: Flip Schulke/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. sits in a jail cell at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama. </p>" data-full-height="418" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNTk3OTY0/martin-luther-king-jr-in-jail.jpg" data-full-width="314" data-image-id="ci01a8bfd61288860b" data-image-slug="Martin Luther King Jr. in Jail" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNTk3OTY0" data-source-name="Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King, Jr. is accompanied by famed pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock (2nd-L), Father Frederick Reed (3rd-R) and union leader Cleveland Robinson (2nd-R) 16 March 1967, during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in New York. </p>" data-full-height="1957" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNjYzNTAw/martin-luther-king-jr-stopwar-raw.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dae4860c" data-image-slug="martin-luther-king-jr-stopwar-raw" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODczNjYzNTAw" data-source-name="Photo: AFP/Getty Images" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>As he walks through O'Hare Airport, American Civil Righter leader and minister Jesse Jackson holds a copy of the Daily Defender newspaper, which features the headline 'King Murdered!,' Chicago, Illinois, April 5, 1968. </p>" data-full-height="2000" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg4MjMyNDYx/martin-luther-king-jr-murdered-raw.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01a8bfd6128a860b" data-image-slug="martin-luther-king-jr-murdered-raw" data-public-id="MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg4MjMyNDYx" data-source-name="Photo: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Martin Luther King Jr.'s family mourns the leader's death at his 1968 funeral in Atlanta, Georgia. </p>" data-full-height="406" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg4MzYzNTMz/funeral-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-in-atlanta.jpg" data-full-width="616" data-image-id="ci01ac7ce9dae8860c" data-image-slug="Funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta" data-public-id="MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg4MzYzNTMz" data-source-name="Photo: JP Laffont/Sygma/Corbis" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><phx-gallery-image data-caption-html="<p>Street signs mark the intersection of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. </p>" data-full-height="975" data-full-src="https://www.biography.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTIwNjA4NjMzODc0MTIyMjUy/street-signs-mark-the-corner-of-rosa-parks-blvd-and-martin-luther-king-jr-blvd-in-detroit.jpg" data-full-width="2000" data-image-id="ci01a8bfd6128c860b" data-image-slug="Street signs mark the corner of Rosa Parks Blvd and Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Detroit" data-public-id="MTIwNjA4NjMzODc0MTIyMjUy" data-source-name="Photo: REBECCA COOK/Reuters/Corbis" style="max-width: 100%;"></phx-gallery-image><div style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life in Photos</h2></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—<em style="max-width: 100%;">Strength to Love</em>, 1963</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 1964</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“The time is always right to do what is right.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—<a href="https://www.oberlin.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Oberlin College</a> commencement speech, 1965</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—<em style="max-width: 100%;">Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?</em>, 1967</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“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.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—Speech before a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia, October 26, 1967</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">“All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’ If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.” </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">"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. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." </strong></p><p style="max-width: 100%;">—“I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968</p></div></div></div></div></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone Hello Cleveland Chapter Info! Today we celebrate the life and legacy of the</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Dr. Rayburn Martin Luther King junior.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Please read the following information to gain a greater and deeper understanding of who this great man was.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">As we move toward our Washington seminar, remember the late great doctor Martin Luther King Junior as he march on Washington for justice and the civil rights of all peoples.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Make this a great day!</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div></body></html>