Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

“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.”

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood... that one day even the State of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice... 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.”

“I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played 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 sweet sweeper who did his job well.”

“Keep hope alive.”

“Life’s piano can only produce the melodies of brotherhood when it is recognized that the black keys are as basic, necessary, and beautiful as the white keys.”  [Where Do We Go From Here?]

“Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force is the most potent instrument available in mankind's quest for peace and security.”  [Strength to Love]

“One of the great glories of democracy is the right to protest for right.” 

“One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.”

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

“Segregation is the offspring of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.”

“The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.”

“The more there are riots, the more repressive action will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing take-over and eventually a fascist society.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“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.”

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” 

“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. 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.”

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

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