Celebrate King by studying his wise words

Today we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the principal leader of the civil rights movement.

What better way to do so than to recall in his own words the wisdom that the man from Atlanta imparted to us during his all-too-short life?

Though more than a halfcentury has passed since King’s passing, the power of his words has not diminished. If anything, their relevance has only grown in recent years amid worsening conflict in American society. It’s quite appropriate to mark the day in his honor by looking back on what he had to say:

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence … Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” — Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dec. 11, 1964

••• “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. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.” — “Strength to Love,” published in 1963

••• “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — “Strength to Love,” published in 1963

••• “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” — Letter from the Birmingham jail, published in the Atlantic Monthly, August 1963

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“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” — Letter from the Birmingham jail, published in the Atlantic Monthly, August 1963

••• “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” — Letter from the Birmingham jail, published in the Atlantic Monthly, August 1963

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“I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law.” — Letter from the Birmingham jail, published in the Atlantic Monthly, August 1963

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“If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” — Speech in Detroit, June 23, 1963

••• “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, August 28, 1963

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“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” — Speech at Western Michigan University, Dec. 18. 1963

We must never forget King’s impassioned pleas and his wonderful prose that helped move the United States a little closer to his dream of a nonviolent, color-blind society and closer to the belief that all men are created equal.

Though more than a half-century has passed since King’s passing, the power of his words has not diminished.