Martin Luther King Jr.
Traced to source
13 quotes we’ve traced to Martin Luther King Jr.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”
Verified“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”
Verified“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted”
Verified“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
Verified“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”
Verified“The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind”
Verified“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice”
Verified“This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor”
Attributed“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”
Disputed“Hate destroys the hater”
Disputed“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”
Disputed“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane”
Disputed“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right”
DisputedNot actually Martin Luther King Jr.
Often misattributed to Martin Luther King Jr.
Famous lines widely pinned on Martin Luther King Jr. that we’ve traced to someone else.
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree”
actually Unknown — a 20th-century German saying
“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope”
actually Martin Luther
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”
actually Marian Wright Edelman
“Hate destroys the hater”
actually Anonymous (a folk proverb, attested by 1897)
“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”
Jessica Dovey (opening line) & Martin Luther King Jr. (the rest)
“Justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream”
actually The prophet Amos (Amos 5:24)
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”
actually Theodore Parker
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing”
actually Martin Luther
“We shall overcome”
actually The civil-rights movement (a traditional anthem)
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