20 Best Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

During January, we celebrate MLK, Jr.’s birthday and February is Black History Month. These Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes are inspiring, empowering, and motivational.

Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes are also very well known.

He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, GA and assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN.

When is the MLK Holiday?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King’s birthday, January 15.

What is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service?

The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'” Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities.

Here are some of the quotes that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for.

20 Best Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

1. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
2. 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.
3. Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
4. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
5. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
6. I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
7. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
8. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?
9. The time is always right to do what is right.
10. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
11. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
12. 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.
13. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
14. There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.
15. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
16. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.
17. 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.
18. We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.
19. A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.
20. No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.

Download this list of 20 Best Quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sources: Brainy Quote & GoodReads

What’s your favorite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote?

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