Martin Luther King Jr.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Biography
About Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was an American Baptist minister and the most prominent leader of the American civil rights movement. , 1955), he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955–56, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and organized the March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at 35 — the youngest recipient at the time. Deeply influenced by Thoreau, Gandhi, and his own Christian faith, he developed a philosophy of nonviolent resistance that transformed American law. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
Key Themes
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1929
- Died
- 1968
- Lifespan
- 39 yrs
- Quotes
- 2 collected
Wisdom
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Famous Quotes
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
— "The Future of Integration" (Oberlin College address), 1964
King delivered this line at Oberlin''s commencement ceremony just months after the Selma to Montgomery marches. It is a moral imperative stated without hedging: rightness does not wait for convenient timing or political conditions. He used it to challenge graduates to act on injustice they witnessed in their communities immediately, without calculating whether the moment was strategically optimal.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
These are among the most quoted words King ever wrote, from a sermon he first preached in 1957. The sentence is structurally elegant — a double chiasmus — but its weight is theological: it argues that hatred can only be extinguished by its opposite, not by a larger force of the same kind. King preached this principle while his own home was being bombed, making it not a platitude but a tested conviction.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was an American Baptist minister and the most prominent leader of the American civil rights movement. Trained as a minister at Boston University (Ph.D., 1955), he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955–56, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and organized the March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at 35 — the youngest recipient at the time. Deeply influenced by Thoreau, Gandhi, and his own Christian faith, he developed a philosophy of nonviolent resistance that transformed American law. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. lived 1929 – 1968.
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