King’s best-known words on love are “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” from his 1963 sermon collection Strength to Love. For King, love wasn’t a feeling. It was agape, which he defined as “understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men,” and it was the engine of his nonviolent method.
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Love quotes
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“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.”
“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.”
“I 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.”
King kept returning to one word: agape. In a 1957 sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church he separated it from romantic love (eros) and friendship (philia) and called it “something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men,” a love “that seeks nothing in return” (King Papers). He gave students at Spelman College nearly the same definition in 1960, and used it again in his Christmas Eve sermon broadcast by the CBC in 1967 (King Institute).
That consistency matters when you read his quotes. When King says “love,” he usually means a deliberate stance toward an opponent, not affection. It’s why love and nonviolence sit side by side in so many of the lines below.
When love was hard to defend
By 1967 the idea was under pressure, inside the movement and out. At the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s tenth annual meeting in Atlanta that August, King told delegates he was sticking with it anyway, and that he knew it wasn’t a popular thing to talk about in some circles (King Institute). In the same speech he gave one of his sharpest definitions of the problem: “power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic.”
Quoting these lines correctly
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that” comes from the 1963 book. In the 1967 speech he said “Darkness cannot put out darkness,” so the wording changed over time.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear” combines two separate passages of the 1967 speech. If you need an exact quote, use one sentence or the other.
Frequently asked questions
What did Martin Luther King Jr. say about love?
That love is a choice with consequences, not a mood. His most quoted line, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” appears in the sermon “Loving Your Enemies” in Strength to Love (1963). He argued that returning hate only multiplies it, so love is the only response that ends the cycle.
What is agape in King’s speeches?
Agape is a Greek word for love that King used to mean goodwill toward everyone, including enemies. He defined it almost identically for ten years: in his 1957 sermon “Loving Your Enemies” (“understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men,” King Papers), at Spelman College in 1960, and in A Christmas Sermon on Peace in 1967.
Did MLK say “I have decided to stick with love”?
Yes. On 16 August 1967, addressing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, he said: “I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems” (King Institute text). The popular version adds “Hate is too great a burden to bear.” He did say that too, but earlier in the same speech, so the two sentences weren’t spoken together.
Where does “Hate cannot drive out hate” come from?
From the sermon “Loving Your Enemies” as published in Strength to Love (1963). King first preached the sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery on 17 November 1957, but the transcript of that service doesn’t contain the famous line; the polished wording belongs to the book. Full story of this quote.
How this page was made: written with AI assistance from the primary sources listed above.Every quotation and fact was checked against those sources by Maddy on 6 October 2026. How we verify · Last updated 6 October 2026
