Martin Luther King, Jr.

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Intelligence plus character—that is the true goal of education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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, Jr.

"Intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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, Jr.

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Love is the only thing that can turn an enemy into a friend."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast with a scientific and technological abundance. We've learned to fly the air as birds, we've learned to swim the seas as fish, yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brother and sisters."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, then run…"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"True education aims to develop both intelligence and character."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don't need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The time is always ripe to do right."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept the finite disappointment, but in spite of this we must maintain the infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep going."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Darkness can not drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is an attitude."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run, then walk; if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The time is always right to do what is right."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""Every man must decide whether he will walk in the creative light of altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgement. Life’s persistent and most urgent question is “What are you doing for others?""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Only in the darkness can you see the stars."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"This quote, while not explicitly about leadership, carries valuable implications for leaders. It warns against complacency and inaction in the face of wrongdoing. In a leadership context, King’s words could be interpreted as a call to speak up against unethical practices/ poor treatment of team members, even if it means challenging the status quo or going against the majority."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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, Jr.

"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, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our lives are not fully lived if we’re not willing to die for those we love, for what we believe."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"No person has the right to rain on your dreams."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ‘"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly then run. If you can't run then walk. If you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We Must Accept Finite Disappointment, but Never Lose Infinite Hope"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"From oppressive and crippling surroundings, George Washington Carver lifted his searching, creative mind to the ordinary peanut, and found therein extraordinary possibilities for goods and products unthinkable by minds of the past."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"From crippling circumstance, George Washington Carver made for himself an imperishable niche in the annals of science."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Pure love wins every struggle against hate."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have decided to stick to love; hate is too great a burden to bear."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Be the best of whatever you are."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We may all have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Courage is an inner resolution to go forward in spite of obstacles and frightening situations."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Your talents and abilities will improve over time, but for that, you have to start."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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, Jr.

""Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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.

"If I cannot do great things. I can do small things in a great way."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must accept infinite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You don’t need to see the whole staircase; just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered people have torn down, other-centered people can build up."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great because everybody can serve."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Everybody can be great. . . because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. . . . You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“I have decided to stick to love; hate is too great a burden to bear.”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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, Jr.

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep going”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep going"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"My dream is that my four preschoolers will grow up in a nation where people will value a person’s character more than their skin tone."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity of spirit."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The majority of the Negroes who took part in the year-long boycott of Montgomery's buses were poor and untutored; but they understood the essence of the Montgomery movement; one elderly woman summed it up for the rest. When asked after several weeks of walking whether she was tired, she answered: ‘My feet is tired, but my soul is at rest.’"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There comes a time when people get tired of being plunged into the abyss of exploitation and nagging injustice."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo 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 streetsweeper who did his job well."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The fact is that justice is indivisible; injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances ... which make philanthropy necessary."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you can’t fly, then run if you can’t run, then walk if you can’t walk, then crawl whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho’ we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our needs are identical with labor’s needs – decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

""We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.""

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.