Jan 18, 2021 Americans are honoring the memory of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 15, 1929, led a non-violent resistance movement that brought about massive changes. King is famous for his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and for winning the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance in 1964. During his time as a prominent figure, King said many things that were motivational and inspiring. Here are 20 of the best Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes that apply to business.

Today is the day set aside to honor the late Martin Luther King Jr. He’s the man who helped propel the civil rights movement forward.

According to Wikipedia, he was an American pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Like many of you, he had lots of titles and roles. He juggled his responsibilities the best he could and left a huge impact on the world, decades after his assassination.

Image by David Erickson

With today being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I’d like to share with you 25 memorable leadership quotes he’s been credited as saying. Afterwards, I’d love for you to share the post and also a quote of his that you find inspiring.

1. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. (Click to tweet)

2. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

3. 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. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.

4. Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

5. I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear. (Click to tweet)

6. Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

7. Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.

8. Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

9. I have a dream…

10. When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

11. All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem. (Tweet this!)

12. 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.

13. The time is always right to do the right thing.

14. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?

15. If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.

16. Lightning makes no sound until it strikes. (Share this)

17. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

18. Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

19. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

20. Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

21. Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better. (Tweet this out)

22. The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.

23. I came to the conclusion that there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself; nobody else can speak for you.

24. We cannot walk alone.

25. You will change your mind; You will change your looks; You will change your smile,laugh, and ways but no matter what you change, you will always be you.

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man with a dream and a vision. He knew where he wanted to take people and he did his best to lead them to the promised land.

While King wasn’t perfect, he did do a lot of great things for the world. Let’s remember the great leadership lessons he taught us through his quotes.

If you’d like to know more about King and his life, you can check out the following books about Martin Luther King Jr.

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos Or Community? – Martin Luther King Jr.’s final manuscript

Question: What’s your favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote? Please share it in the comment section below.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Only in the darkness can you see the stars. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

No person has the right to rain on your dreams. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quotes Martin Luther King Day 2021

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. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ – Martin Luther King, Jr.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction… – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The time is always right to do the right thing. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

…And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. – Martin Luther King, Jr. (From a Speech in Memphis, Tennessee – April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated.)

Also See:Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.