On this day, we remember one of the greatest leaders in human history. What he was able to accomplish in his all-too-short time on Earth was astounding. It’s often said the true definition of a leader is someone who has the ability to get people to do what they wouldn’t do on their own had that person not been there. And Martin Luther King, Jr did just that, getting over a million people to march peacefully to Washington D.C. for a worthy cause.
In honor of him today, watch these video clips, take them in and think about how you can apply pieces of his timeless messages still today. In whatever your worthy endeavors, keep on pursuing them, and never quit…In the words of another great mentor, Mr. Michael Humes, “It’s impossible to stop a man or woman who will not quit.”
“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 a Dream” speech (1963)
“In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and discovery.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“A lie cannot live.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “Strength to Love” (1963)
“Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”
- Martin Luther King Jr. “Strength To Love” (1963)
“Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives. He is distinguished from animals by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “The Measures of Man” (1959)
“I am aware that there are many who wince at a distinction between property and persons–who hold both sacrosanct. My views are not so rigid. A life is sacred. Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on; it is not man.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “The Trumpet of Conscience” (1967)
“If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values–that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
“Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “Strength to Love” (1963)
“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)
“As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
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