Categories: Inspiration

Peaceful yet powerful Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. His most famous work is his “I Have a Dream” (1963) speech, in which he spoke of his dream of the United States that is void of segregation and racism. Here are some powerful quotes he said.

· “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.”

· “All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

· “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

· “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

· “There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”

· “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

· “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that 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.”

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

· “Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”

· “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.”

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

· “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.”

· “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”

· “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”