by Kandia Johnson

January 18, 2016

BE Inspired: Dr. Martin Luther King Quotes to Uplift and Empower You

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On the third Monday of January each year, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is celebrated around the nation. Although King is most recognized for his work during the Civil Rights movement, his principles on leadership, equal rights, and nonviolent persuasion can be applied to our everyday lives.

Here are a few of King’s most famous quotes.

[Related: Three States Make MLK Day a Joint Holiday with Leader of the Confederate Army]

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

“If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
–The Dream at the Detroit March

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
–Strength to Love, 1963

“The time is always right to do what is right.” –Oberlin Commencement Speech

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” –MLK The other America

“I can see nothing more urgent than for America to work passionately and unrelentingly to get rid of the disease of racism.”
–MLK Oberlin College Commencement

“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.”
–Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963

“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.”
–The Drum Major Instinct, Ebenezer Baptist Church

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
–Strength to Love, 1963

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

“Differences have been contrived by outsiders who seek to impose disunity by dividing brothers because the color of their skin has a different shade.”

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

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

Sources: NPS.gov  and The King Center