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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes about Life

All Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes 4th Of July Abuse Acceptance Adversity Age Aids Anger Apathy Attitude Being Strong Belief Betrayal Black History Brotherhood Business Cancer Challenges Change Character Charity Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Civil Rights Coffee College Commitment Communism Community Compassion Conflict Country Courage Creativity Crime Criticism Culture Darkness Death Death Penalty Defeat Democracy Destiny Determination Dignity Disappointment Discipline Diversity Drinking Dying Earth Education Effort Encouragement Energy Equality Evil Faith Fear Feelings Fighting Forgiveness Freedom Friendship Frustration Fun Generosity Giving Giving Up God Goodness Greatness Growth Hard Work Hate Hatred Heart Heaven Helping Others History Home Hope Human Nature Humanity Humility Hurt Ignorance Independence Injustice Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Jazz Jesus Judging Justice Knowledge Leadership Learning Leaving Legacy Liars Liberty Life quotes Love Love And Hate Love Life Loyalty Lying Madness Mankind Marriage Materialism Military Money Morality Morning Motivation Motivational Mountain Moving Forward Nonviolence Opportunity Oppression Optimism Overcoming Pain Passion Past Patriotism Peace Persistence Personality Perspective Philosophy Police Politics Positive Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Procrastination Progress Protest Purpose Quality Racism Rage Reality Respect Responsibility Revenge Revolution Risk Running Sacrifice Sad Salvation School Science Segregation Self Esteem Silence Sin Slavery Socialism Society Son Soul Spirituality Strength Struggle Study Success Suffering Surrender Survival Survivor Teaching Time Today Tragedy Truth Uncertainty Unconditional Love Understanding Unity Universe Victory Violence Vision Volunteer Voting Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Welfare Winning Wisdom Work Worship Writing Yoga
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love, Inspirational, Life
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Motivational
Strength to Love (1963) ch. 3

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Love, Life, Marriage
Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Motivational
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Motivational
"Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Motivational, Respect
Speech at St. Louis, 22 Mar. 1964, in St Louis Post-Dispatch 23 Mar. 1964

I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end (purpose) of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Wisdom, Pain

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Dream
"I Have a Dream". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Address Delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. August 28, 1963.

Life's piano can only produce melodies of brotherhood (and sisterhood) when it is recognized that the black keys are as basic, necessary and beautiful as the white keys.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Beautiful, Sisterhood

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, Jr.
Life, Greatness, Diversity
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (2017). “The Measure of a Man”, p.18, Pickle Partners Publishing

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Motivational

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, Compassion
Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Love Is, Men
"Loving Your Enemies". Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 17, 1957.

Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Love Is, Men
"Loving Your Enemies". Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Time, Important

On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Courage, Time
"Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech in Washington, D.C., kinginstitute.stanford.edu. March 31, 1968.

Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Love Life, Hatred
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.123, Beacon Press

We will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Mean, Cutting

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Peace, Kings
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2007). “Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr”, p.55, Blue Mountain Arts, Inc.

Agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it's what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Men, Creative
"Loving Your Enemies". Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, November 17, 1957.

I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And 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.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspirational, Life, God
Address to sanitation workers, Memphis, Tenn., 3 Apr. 1968.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets as Raphael painted pictures, sweep streets as Michelangelo carved marble, sweep streets as Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Fall, Raphael
Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

Love is basic for the very survival of mankind. I'm convinced that love is the only absolute ultimately; love is the highest good. He who loves has somehow discovered the meaning of ultimate reality. He who hates does not know God; he who hates has no knowledge of God. Love is the supreme unifying principle of life.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Hate, Reality
Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood, delivered 26 February 1965

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, Jr.
Life, Graduation, Hate
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.119, Beacon Press

There may come a time when it will be possible for you to humiliate your worst enemy or even to defeat him, but in order to love the enemy you must not do it... The Greek language has another word [for love]. It calls it agape. Agape is more than romantic love. Agape is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men. Agape is an overflowing love, a spontaneous love, which seeks nothing in return. And theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. When you rise to love on this level you love all men, not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, not because they are worthful to you, but you love all men because God loves them. And you rise to the noble heights of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. And I think this is what Jesus means when he says, “Love your enemies.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life, Jesus, Hate
"Loving Your Enemies". Sermon Delivered at the Detroit Council of Churches' Noon Lenten Services, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. March 07, 1961.

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