Top 500 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “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.

Featured in: Positive Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Persistence Quotes, Change Quotes

2. “I Have a Dream”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Positive Quotes, Goal Quotes, Change Quotes, Opportunity Quotes

3. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Positive Inspirational Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Reflection Quotes, Inspirational Life Quotes

4. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Love Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Wisdom Quotes

5. “The time is always right to do the right thing.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Integrity Quotes, Attitude Quotes, Life Lessons Quotes

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

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Life Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Deep Quotes About Life, Positive Inspirational Quotes

7. “There is no gain without struggle.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Perseverance Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Change Quotes, Life Lessons Quotes

8. “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.

Featured in: Courage Quotes, Life Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Leadership Quotes

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

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Famous Quotes, Life Lessons Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Thought Provoking Quotes

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

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Life Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Empowerment Quotes, Fighting Quotes

11. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Motivational Quotes, Positive Quotes, Focus Quotes, Love Quotes

12. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Life Quotes, Service Quotes, Quality Quotes

13. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Persistence Quotes, Change Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Short Inspirational Quotes

14. “Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

15. “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Short Motivational Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Compassion Quotes, Powerful Quotes

16. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

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

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Life Quotes, Leadership Quotes, Change Quotes, Inspirational Life Quotes

18. “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Courage Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes, Empowering Quotes, Fighting Quotes

19. “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

20. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Positive Inspirational Quotes, Christian Motivational Quotes, Emotional Quotes, Peace Quotes

21. “Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

22. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Famous Quotes, Morality Quotes, Fighting Quotes, Struggle Quotes

23. “Hate destroys the hater.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Deep Quotes About Life, Famous Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes, Morality Quotes

24. “Let’s build bridges, not walls.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

25. “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Christian Motivational Quotes, Morality Quotes, Emotion Quotes, Greatness Quotes

26. “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Education Quotes, Study Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes, Positive Motivational Quotes

27. “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.

Featured in: Acceptance Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Quotes About Hope

28. “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Peace Quotes, Powerful Quotes

29. “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.

Featured in: Purpose Quotes

30. “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

31. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Love Quotes, Positive Life Quotes, Empowering Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes

32. “Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Empowering Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Greatness Quotes

33. “Be a thermostat not a thermometer.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Short Motivational Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes

34. “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Integrity Quotes, Morality Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Kindness Quotes

35. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Morality Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Conscience Quotes

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

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Inspirational Quotes for Work, Empowering Quotes, Positive Motivational Quotes

37. “A right delayed is a right denied.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

38. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Morality Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Values Quotes, Quotes About Humanity

39. “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.

Featured in: Empowering Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Greatness Quotes, Quotes About Humanity

40. “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.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Empathy Quotes, Harmony Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Quotes About People

41. “It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

42. “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Famous Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Victory Quotes

43. “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.

Featured in: Meaningful Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Powerful Quotes

44. “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.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Integrity Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Values Quotes, Taking Action Quotes

45. “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.

Featured in: Meaningful Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Faith Quotes, Quotes About Hope

46. “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Excellence Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Work Ethic Quotes, Graduation Quotes

47. “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Make A Difference Quotes, Morality Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Values Quotes

48. “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Impact Quotes, Health Quotes, Justice Quotes

49. “That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Integrity Quotes, Time Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes

50. “We shall overcome.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.