BY SOFO ARCHON
Martin Luther King, Jr. has undoubtedly touched the hearts of millions of people from around the world, mainly through his powerful “I have a dream” speech given in 1963.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
King strived to see a world without discrimination and prejudice, but unfortunately even 53 years after he delivered that speech, speciesism, classism, and racism, among other forms of discrimination, still prevail.
Here are 21 hand-picked revolutionary quotes from the great civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.
1. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
2. “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
3. “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
4. “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”
5. “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”
6. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
7. “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.”
8. “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”
9. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
10. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”
11. “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.”
12. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
13. “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.”
14. “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.”
15. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
16. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
17. “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.”
18. “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.”
19. “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
20. “I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
21. “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”