8 MLK Quotes That Will Inspire You to Greatness

ATLANTA, GA -- Nearly 49 years after his death, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words on freedom and equality continue to resonate among a new generation.

Delivered in his melodic cadence, MLK’s words stirred the soul of a nation and indeed much of the world.

As the nation marks MLK Day, observed by metro Atlanta municipalities on Monday, we look back at some of his most powerful quotes.

1. On love & power

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

-- Sermon on loving your enemies at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1957

2. “A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.”

-- Essay penned by MLK in 1958

3. MLK on nonviolence

“The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation.”

-- Essay penned by MLK in 1958

Read more: Here's a list of Metro Atlanta county & city offices closed for MLK Day

4. Opinions on the Vietnam War

“I have nothing but admiration for those who are engaged in the kind of sacrificial and suffering situation that they are in. I’m not dealing with their particular situation … I’m trying to do and what people in the peace movement are trying to do is really geared toward bringing the boys back home, we’re trying to be their best friends by doing something about the climate that will bring an end of this war.”

-- On “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1967

5. On His family's tradition of ministry

“I always wanted to be a minister. My father is a minister, as you know. My grandfather was a minister and my great-grandfather, so I’m told, was a minister also.”

-- From the King Center Archives in Atlanta

6. On explaining segregation to his daughter

“Yolanda would inevitably say, 'I want to go to Funtown,' and I would always evade a direct reply. I really didn't know how to explain to her why she couldn't go. Then one day at home, she ran downstairs exclaiming that a TV commercial was urging people to come to Funtown. Then my wife and I had to sit down with her between us and try to explain it. I have won some applause as a speaker, but my tongue twisted and my speech stammered seeking to explain to my 6-year-old daughter why the public invitation on television didn't include her, and others like her.”

-- Interview with Alex Haley in 1965, explaining segregation to his daughter

7. On resisting hatred

“In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”

-- “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, August 28 1963

8. Segregation a 'cancer'

“Segregation is a cancer in the body politic which must be removed before our moral and democratic health can be realized. We don’t have long to solve this problem. There is a bit of urgency about it. The shape of the world today no longer affords us the luxury of an anemic democracy. There is a revolt all over the world against colonialism, imperialism and racism. And all over the world people are saying racism and colonialism must go.”

MLK speech at SMU in 1966

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