Martin Luther King Jr.
American Baptist minister, civil rights leader, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Drawing on the nonviolent satyagraha of Gandhi, the social gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch, and the Black church tradition, King led the Montgomery bus boycott, the Birmingham campaign, and the March on Washington — and articulated, in speeches and books, a vision of the "beloved community" grounded in agape love and economic justice. Assassinated in Memphis in 1968 at the age of 39, his words remain a foundational text of American moral imagination.
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quotes in library
Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.
104 quotes“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”
timeLetter from Birmingham Jail
“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”
lifeStrength to Love
“In a real sense all life is interrelated. The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich.”
interrelationLetter from Birmingham Jail
“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.”
sufferingStrength to Love
“Every step toward freedom requires somebody to bring it into being.”
freedomWhere Do We Go from Here
“The moral arc bends because we bend it. Without us, it does not move.”
moralWhere Do We Go from Here
“Walk together, children, don't get weary.”
perseveranceSpeeches and Letters
“My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
visionI've Been to the Mountaintop
“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.”
promised-landI've Been to the Mountaintop
“The poor in spirit shall inherit the kingdom.”
humilityStrength to Love
“Goodness will conquer evil. Truth will overcome lies.”
goodnessStrength to Love
“I am happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.”
fearlessnessI've Been to the Mountaintop
“There is something within human nature that can respond to goodness.”
goodnessStrength to Love
“You don't have to know philosophy. You just have to have heart full of grace.”
graceSpeeches and Letters
“The chains of an unjust system can only be broken by the unbreakable spirit of love.”
loveStrength to Love
“Even the smallest act of justice ripples outward.”
justiceWhere Do We Go from Here
“What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?”
soulStrength to Love
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence. The choice is between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
choiceWhere Do We Go from Here
“It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world. It's nonviolence or nonexistence.”
nonviolenceSpeeches and Letters
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