I Have A Dream Speech Quotes

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  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.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Children

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Life, Marriage

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Dream

  Speech at Civil Rights March in Washington, 28 Aug. 1963, in New York Times 29 Aug. 1963, p. 21

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• We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  March, Walks, Turns

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Children, Reality, Justice

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Change, Night, Light

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• And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Today, Faces

  Speech at Civil Rights March in Washington, 28 Aug. 1963, in New York Times 29 Aug. 1963, p. 21

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• Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Love Life, Mind Love

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.141, Beacon Press

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• The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everyone blind.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Philosophy, Eye, Leaving

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• We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Believe, Justice, Kings Speech

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Despair, Valleys

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Brother, Destiny, White

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• I, with millions of other Americans, have the same dream Martin Luther King Jr. had; when I wake up I wish some of the things I dreamt would be true. I wish that little black and white boys and girls would hold hands without being shocked at their nearness to each other and say in a natural way, "we have overcome.

  Maya Angelou

  Girl, Dream, Kings

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Aug 28, 2013

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• In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Men, Pursuit Of Happiness

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• In some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, Stars, Racism

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.106, Beacon Press

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• It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Color, America, People

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Believe, Opportunity, America

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Cells, Wind, Creative

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Real, Luxury, America

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Luxury, Drug, Racial Justice

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, let freedom ring. But not only that: Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  New York, Freedom, July

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• There is some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Forgiveness, Worst Enemy, Evil

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2015). “The Radical King”, p.39, Beacon Press

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Peace, Freedom

  1963 Speech at the Lincoln Memorial, 28 Aug, during the March on Washington.

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• Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Children, Real, Dark

  "I Have a Dream". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Address Delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. August 28, 1963.

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• Dr. King gave the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech.

  Simon Sinek

  Dream, Kings, Speech

  Simon Sinek @simonsinek, twitter.com. January 19, 2015.

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