“The silence of good people is more dangerous than the brutality of bad people.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking the cup of bitterness and hatred.”

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“The quality, not the longevity of one’s life, is what is important.”

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

“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.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

His “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech was delivered at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968. He was tragically prescient. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated the following day.