About Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the greatest leaders and most famous orators of our time. As a civil rights activist, he inspired a nation of fellow black people to break free from discrimination and boycott the system until their voices were heard. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was inspired by the teachings and philosophies of Benjamin Mays, Mahatma Gandhi and David Henry Thoreau. He is a remarkable example of what one person can achieve in so little time.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Biographies
King on Challenges
"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."
King on Belief
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
King on Inspiration
"The time is always right to do what is right."
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
"Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important."
King on Motivation
"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."
"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as 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 and say, "Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."
King on Education
"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education."
The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false.
King on Fear
Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.
King on Peace
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
King on Happiness
"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."
King on Hope
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
Martin Luther King - "I Have a Dream"