In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or, really, for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech delivered Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, as one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. Associated Press
By Bethany Twede

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day coming up, it’s a good time to take time to remember a man whose words touched lives and changed minds.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister who played an important role in the American Civil Rights Movement.

According to History.com, “King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest.”

King’s words have just as profound an impact on people today as they did in the mid-1950s.

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10 famous quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

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Here are just a few of King’s most well known and famous quotes.

  1. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed,” “I Have A Dream.”
  2. “Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,” “Loving Your Enemies.”
  3. “No we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” “I Have A Dream.”
  4. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope,” “I Have A Dream.”
  5. “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,” “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”
  6. “If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, be a scrub in the valley — but be the best little scrub on the side of the rill,” “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life.”
  7. “On some positions Cowardice asks, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks, ‘Is it popular?’ But conscience asks, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right,” "A Proper Sense of Priorities.”
  8. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope,” “Shattered Dreams.”
  9. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools,” in his speech in St. Louis 1964.
  10. “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice,” ”Stride Toward Freedom.”
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