Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom rally on August 28, 1963. Over 200,000 civil rights supporters gathered to hear one of the greatest speeches ever delivered. The following quotes from “I Have a Dream” and other noteworthy sermons are inspirational and moving.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 which would have made him 81 today. However, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, thus ending his young career and life as a Baptist minister, husband and father at the age of 39.
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2010, it’s an appropriate time to revisit some of his most memorable quotes, which continue to inspire today.
Here are collection of 25 famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
“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.”
“A lie cannot live.”
“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. ”
“A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.”
“A right delayed is a right denied.”
“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
“I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
“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 decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
“I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.”
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
“Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.”
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
“The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.”
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
