January 15, 1929 was Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year, this year, January 18.
King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. In honor of him we have shared a few of his words of wisdom below;
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.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.
Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
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.
Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
The time is always right to do what is right.
I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
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.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
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.
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.
A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a 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 street sweeper who did his job well.
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
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.
People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?