Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

       Martin Luther King, Jr.
       1929-1968
      
       Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today.
      
       A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.
      
       King's main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.     Topics: Achievement, Examples We must use time creatively.     Topics: Achievement Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.     Topics: Achievement, Work He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.     Topics: Apathy Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.     Topics: Apathy The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.     Topics: Apathy, Morality The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.     Topics: Apathy The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.     Topics: Character A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.     Topics: Character I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.     Topics: Character, Justice, Jealousy 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.     Topics: Character, Comfort An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.     Topics: Charity