Four Terrific Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes and Why They Matter

By Jasmine Clark, Live Well Enhance You Contributing Writer

In a world full of racism, violence, hatred, oppression, and political polarization, any source of kindness and fairness is like an oasis in a desert. We all need something to remind us that not everyone is bad, not everything is hopeless. One of the many reasons we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is that his words give us hope for a better future.

Today, I want to share a few quotes from Dr. King. These quotes were all made in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, so they all declare large, important truths about society. However, I wanted to add another angle: how you can apply these quotes to your own life.

“Love is the way. Love is the only absolute. More and more I see this. I've seen too much hate to want to hate myself; hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Dr. King said these words in a 1965 sermon called “The American Dream.” If anyone knows what it’s like to see hate, it’s Dr. King. He was on the receiving end of a tremendous amount of racist hate, but instead of giving hate in return, he recognized that hate is something that emotionally destroys the person who feels the hate – not just the person who receives it.

When someone has deeply hurt you, you may feel anger rising up inside you, and that anger can turn into hate. But hate is a heavy burden that fills you with bitterness. It’s painful and stressful to carry that around with you. Throw off that heavy burden. Love is lighter and more freeing!

“Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship.”

This quote is from a 1957 sermon Dr. King gave called “Loving Your Enemies.” He wrote this sermon while he was in jail for his civil rights advocacy. For most people, forgiveness would be a difficult topic to think about while in jail, but amazingly, Dr. King thought about it anyway.

In your own life, if a loved one has done something wrong to you, forgiveness would look like not letting their action get in the way of your love for them. What your loved one did to you wasn’t right, and you don’t have to label it as a good thing. But you can still have a relationship with that person if you choose to use the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness is hard in the moment, but in the long run, it’s worth it.

“As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.”

These words are from Dr. King’s 1967 book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Dr. King was explaining that all human beings have equal dignity and worth, which is why slavery and other types of oppression are wrong. He wanted African-Americans to have self-esteem and remember their worthiness, even as they were being insulted and mistreated by racists.

If you have high self-esteem, you can stay strong even if people bully you and treat you like you’re inferior to them. Other people’s harsh treatment of you doesn’t diminish your worth in any way. Their negative feelings about you do not have to control the way you feel about yourself. You’re in control of yourself, not them. 

“I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.”

This is from Dr. King’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech in 1964. A passionate advocate for nonviolence, he was deeply saddened by war and racial unrest. After all the mistreatment he and other African-Americans experienced, and amid the escalating Vietnam War, Dr. King could have easily lost hope that anything would get better. Yet throughout his life, he spread a powerful message of holding on to hope in bleak circumstances.

You may not be dealing with mortar bursts and bullets, but you’ve certainly had times when you lost hope because you had no idea how a bad situation would get better. If you’re in a situation like that, remember to try to see past your current circumstances. Don’t assume that the way things are now is permanent. You can’t see it clearly yet, but your situation really will get better.

I hope these quotes give you inspiration and peace. If you follow Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s example of love and optimism, even horrible situations – both in your life and in society as a whole – will become easier.

Jasmine Clark is a freelance writer from North Carolina. She enjoys writing about topics such as stress relief and positive thinking. She likes to encourage others to find ways to calm down and relax. In her spare time, she loves to write fiction stories and watch TV and YouTube. You can find her on Instagram @cozysachi.