The time is always right to do what is right.
A smoothed version. At Oberlin College in 1965 he said “the time is always right to do right.”
What he said →01
MLK
Quotes
103 sourced
quotesEvery quote
traced to its
original documentSpeeches · Sermons
Letters · Books
Photo: Martin Luther King Jr., 1964, New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, Library of Congress (no known restrictions).
- 103quotes, each checked word for word
- 24primary documents behind them
- 8popular lines held back until sourced
- 3popular misquotes explained
02Themes
Explore by theme
7 collections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s words. Each one links to its own page with the quote images, sources and questions people ask.
Most searched
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963 · Read it in context →
03Quotes
All MLK quotes, sourced
Every line below was matched word for word to the speech, letter or book named under it. Press Copy to put the quote and its source on your clipboard.
I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
Strength to Love, 1963A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
Speech, Memphis, 1968Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
Nobel lecture, Oslo, 1964Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.
Stride Toward Freedom, 1958Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.
Strength to Love, 1963Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?
Speech, 1957The chain reaction of evil, hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars, must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Strength to Love, 1963Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Strength to Love, 1963I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Strength to Love, 1963We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
Strength to Love, 1963Peace is the presence of justice, the presence of brotherhood and unity.
Speech, 1958Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Strength to Love, 1963Power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic.
Where Do We Go From Here? (SCLC address), Atlanta, 1967The nonviolent resister does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding.
Stride Toward Freedom, 1958At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love.
Stride Toward Freedom, 1958We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.
Oberlin College commencement address, 1965Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. … You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.
The Drum Major Instinct, 1968I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems.
Where Do We Go From Here? (SCLC address), Atlanta, 1967Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Strength to Love, 1963Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
Strength to Love, 1963In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
I Have a Dream, 1963The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community.
Stride Toward Freedom, 1958Love is the most durable power in the world.
Strength to Love, 1963Nonviolence is a weapon fabricated of love.
Stride Toward Freedom, 1958Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
I Have a Dream, 1963The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
1965 speech, adapted from Theodore ParkerInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. … Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.
The Purpose of Education, 1947Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.
The Purpose of Education, 1947We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal.”
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963The riches of freedom and the security of justice.
I Have a Dream, 1963We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
I Have a Dream, 1963, quoting the Declaration of IndependenceNineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.
I Have a Dream, 1963Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
I Have a Dream, 1963Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I Have a Dream, 1963I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
I Have a Dream, 1963We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
I Have a Dream, 1963I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
I Have a Dream, 1963Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
I Have a Dream, 1963No lie can live forever.
I Have a Dream, 1963The time is always right to do right.
Oberlin College commencement address, 1965Justice too long delayed is justice denied.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963There is nothing greater in all the world than freedom. It is worth paying for. It is worth losing a job for.
Speech, 1965Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.
I Have a Dream, 1963Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.
Strength to Love, 1963Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
The Drum Major Instinct, 1968Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Strength to Love, 1963The 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.
Strength to Love, 1963We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
1965 speech, adapted from Theodore ParkerI've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you.
I've Been to the Mountaintop, 1968We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963I 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.
I Have a Dream, 1963Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.
I've Been to the Mountaintop, Memphis, 1968If you can't fly, run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.
Keep Moving from This Mountain, Spelman College, 1960Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal.
A Christmas Sermon on Peace, 1967Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Strength to Love, 1963Our God is marching on.
Speech, Montgomery, 1965With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
I Have a Dream, 1963A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
Beyond Vietnam, Riverside Church, 1967Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now.
Beyond Vietnam, Riverside Church, 1967We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.
Beyond Vietnam, Riverside Church, 1967I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964We must shift the arms race into a “peace race.”
Nobel lecture, Oslo, 1964It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.
I've Been to the Mountaintop, Memphis, 1968I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.
Strength to Love, 1963The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.
The Purpose of Education, 1947If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.
What Is Your Life's Blueprint?, Barratt Junior High School, 1967Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Strength to Love, 1963Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false.
The Purpose of Education, 1947We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
Strength to Love, 1963A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Strength to Love, 1963Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right?
Speech, 1968Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right?
Speech, 1968We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.
The Purpose of Education, 1947The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.
The Purpose of Education, 1947Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I've Been to the Mountaintop, 1968One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.
I Have a Dream, 1963In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
I Have a Dream, 1963Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
I Have a Dream, 1963It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
I Have a Dream, 1963We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.
I Have a Dream, 1963I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I Have a Dream, 1963With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
I Have a Dream, 1963Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
I Have a Dream, 1963The time is always right to do right.
Oberlin College commencement address, 1965Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
The Drum Major Instinct, 1968Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Strength to Love, 1963
Quotation text © Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Where the popular wording differs from what King said, we use his words.
From Strength to Love
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
Strength to Love, 1963 · Read it in context →
04Images
Quote images
The same quotes as shareable images, a few from each theme. Open one full size, save it to Pinterest, send it on WhatsApp or download it.
Love
Love page →
“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”
“We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.”
“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”
Speech, Memphis, 1968
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”
“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.”
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.”
“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”
Speech, 1957
“The chain reaction of evil, hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars, must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
Justice
Justice page →
“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time.”
“Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself.”
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. … Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”
Hope
Hope page →
“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.”
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”
“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.”
“We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you.”
“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”
“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.”
Peace & War
Peace & War page →
“Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
“Our God is marching on.”
“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now.”
“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.”
“I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.”
Courage & Leadership
Courage & Leadership page →
“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”
“The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.”
“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.”
What Is Your Life's Blueprint?, Barratt Junior High School, 1967
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
“Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false.”
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.”
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
“Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right?”
Speech, 1968
I Have a Dream
I Have a Dream page →
“One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.”
“In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check.”
“Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.”
“It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.”
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”
“With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”
“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”
MLK Day
MLK Day page →
“The time is always right to do right.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
05Timeline
A chronology of his work
The documents behind the quotes, oldest first, with how many quotes on this site come from each.
- 1947The Purpose of Education, 19476 quotes
- 1957Speech, 19571 quote
- 1958Speech, 19581 quote
- 1958Stride Toward Freedom, 19585 quotes
- 1960Keep Moving from This Mountain, Spelman College, 19601 quote
- 1963I Have a Dream, 196322 quotes
- 1963I Have a Dream, 1963, quoting the Declaration of Independence1 quote
- 1963Letter from Birmingham Jail, 196313 quotes
- 1963Strength to Love, 196319 quotes
- 1964Nobel lecture, Oslo, 19642 quotes
- 1964Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 19648 quotes
- 19651965 speech, adapted from Theodore Parker2 quotes
- 1965Oberlin College commencement address, 19653 quotes
- 1965Speech, 19651 quote
- 1965Speech, Montgomery, 19651 quote
- 1967A Christmas Sermon on Peace, 19671 quote
- 1967Beyond Vietnam, Riverside Church, 19673 quotes
- 1967What Is Your Life's Blueprint?, Barratt Junior High School, 19671 quote
- 1967Where Do We Go From Here? (SCLC address), Atlanta, 19672 quotes
- 1968I've Been to the Mountaintop, 19682 quotes
- 1968I've Been to the Mountaintop, Memphis, 19682 quotes
- 1968Speech, 19682 quotes
- 1968Speech, Memphis, 19681 quote
- 1968The Drum Major Instinct, 19683 quotes
06Misquoted
Quotes he never said that way
Popular wordings that drift from the record. Each one links to the page that shows what King said.
…keep moving forward.
The Spelman College text (1960) ends “but by all means keep moving.”
What he said →Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
A paraphrase. In Memphis on 3 April 1968 he said “only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”
What he said →07Checker
Check a quote
Paste a line you’ve seen attributed to King. We’ll tell you if it’s one we’ve checked.
08Method
Our methodology
Each quote is checked word for word against a primary text: a speech transcript, a letter, a sermon or a book. Where we can’t confirm a line, it stays off the site.
Read how we verify →
09FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What are 5 famous quotes from MLK?
- “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.” (“I Have a Dream,” 28 August 1963)
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Letter from Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963)
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Strength to Love, 1963)
- “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” (“Our God Is Marching On!”, Montgomery, 25 March 1965)
- “The time is always right to do right.” (Oberlin College commencement, June 1965)
What are the 10 most famous quotes?
Widely quoted lines, each checked against its source: the five above, plus “If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving” (Spelman College, 1960); “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve” (“The Drum Major Instinct,” 4 February 1968); “We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools” (Oberlin College, 1965); “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time” (Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 10 December 1964); and “Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars” (“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” 3 April 1968). The full list is in All MLK quotes above.
What was MLK’s most famous (and most powerful) quote?
“Most powerful” is a matter of taste, but the most famous is from “I Have a Dream” (28 August 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.” He spoke it from the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the March on Washington, which more than 200,000 people attended.
What did MLK say about justice?
Two lines carry most of it. From a Birmingham jail cell in April 1963 he wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Letter from Birmingham Jail). At Montgomery in March 1965 he said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” borrowing an image from the abolitionist Theodore Parker. More on the justice quotes page.
What did MLK say about hope?
On 3 April 1968, the night before he was killed, he told a Memphis crowd at Mason Temple: “Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars” (“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”). See all of the hope quotes.
Did MLK actually say “I have a dream”?
Yes. He spoke it on 28 August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech is on the King Institute’s page for the March on Washington, and we gather its quotes on the I Have a Dream page.
Where can I check whether an MLK quote is real?
Go to the primary text. The King Institute at Stanford publishes many of his speeches, sermons and letters, and NobelPrize.org has his 1964 speeches. Every quote on this site names its source, and you can paste a line into the checker above. How we verify quotes.
Are some popular MLK quotes misquoted?
Yes, often. “The time is always right to do what is right” is a smoothed version: at Oberlin College in 1965 he said “the time is always right to do right.” “If you can’t fly, run…” ends “but by all means keep moving,” not “keep moving forward.” Each is explained on its own page: the time is always right and if you can’t fly, run.
When is MLK Day 2027?
Monday, 18 January 2027. Federal law sets the holiday on the third Monday in January (5 U.S.C. § 6103), and the US Office of Personnel Management lists 18 January for 2027. See MLK Day quotes.
Can I share or download these quote images?
Yes. Each image has buttons to save it to Pinterest, share it on WhatsApp or X, download it, or copy the quote as text. A link back to the quote’s page helps other people find the source.
How this page was made: written with AI assistance from the primary sources listed on our sources page.Every quotation and fact was checked against those sources by Maddy on 6 October 2026. How we verify · Last updated 6 October 2026