Recalling the words of Martin

The nation celebrates the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. this coming Monday, Jan. 20. The civil rights leader, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., would have been 85 years old on his birth, Jan. 15.

To mark the day and the man, we offer a series of quotes, some familiar, some not, and whenver possible, where and when King made the remarks. King’s words resonant as much today as they did half a century ago.

An Individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity. Every person must decide at some point, whether they will walk in light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment: Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’

“Conquering Self-Centeredness” Speech in Montgomery, Alabama (Aug. 11, 1957)

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.

“Strength to Love” (1963)

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.

“Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story” (1958)

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

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

Strength to Love (1963)

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 13, 1962

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land . . . So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968 (the day before his assassination)

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

“I Have a Dream” speech, Aug. 28, 1963

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964

There are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for. And I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

Speech in Detroit on June 23, 1963

In the final analysis, the rich must not ignore the poor because both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny. All life is interrelated, and all men are interdependent. The agony of the poor diminishes the rich, and the salvation of the poor enlarges the rich. We are inevitably our brothers’ keeper because of the interrelated structure of reality.

Nobel Lecture , Oslo, Norway, Dec. 11, 1964

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

“Beyond Vietnam,” Riverside Church, New York City, 1967

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.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

The time is always right to do what’s right.

Speech delivered in Finney Chapel at Oberlin College (Oct. 22, 1964)

Editor’s note: Although King’s words can be inspiring, hearing him preach and speak can be stirring, even in black and white videos from so many years ago. Many of King’s speeches can be found on YouTube.