Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Courage

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  Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Atlanta Magazine, April 2008.

• 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.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Courage, Integrity

• Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Change, Strength

• History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Courage, Integrity, Destiny

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

• If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Moving On, Dream

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “The trumpet of conscience”, Harpercollins

• Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Courage, Fear, Mind

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.119, Beacon Press

• On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the 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.

  Life, Courage, Time

  "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech in Washington, D.C., kinginstitute.stanford.edu. March 31, 1968.

• We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Encouragement, Fear, Patriotic

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.120, Beacon Press

• Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live. We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Courage, Men, Zest

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.120, Beacon Press

• History will have to recordThat the greatest tragedy of this period of social transitionWas not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad peopleBut the appalling silence and indifference of the good.Our generation will have to repent notOnly for the words and actions of the children of darknessBut also for the fears and apathy of thechildren of light.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Courage, Children, Light

• Courage faces fear and thereby masters it

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Success

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.138, Beacon Press

• My study of Gandhi convinced me that true pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolent resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love. . . .

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Courage, Two

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.99, Beacon Press

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