Article image

9 Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr.’s 'I Have a Dream' Speech

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech that reverberated through U.S. history. Known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, the address eloquently captured the cause of the Civil Rights Movement, and its struggle to align the reality of American life with the ideals of its founding — that “all men are created equal.”

King’s address is only rivaled in its fame by President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” a century earlier, so it’s fitting that King’s iconic words were delivered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. King even evoked Lincoln in the speech’s opening line: “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” But the civil rights leader quickly went on to illustrate that emancipation from slavery was only the first step on the long path to racial equality and justice.

These 9 quotes from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech continue to inspire today, reminding us that his cause is still our own, nearly 60 years later.

Share Quote

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.

Share Quote

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Share Quote

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.

Share Quote

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

Share Quote

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

Share Quote

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

Share Quote

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 have a dream today.

Share Quote

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

Share Quote

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 Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Share Quote

Photo credit: Bettmann via Getty Images

Author image
About the Author
Darren Orf
Darren lives in Portland, Oregon, has two cats, and writes about science, technology, nature, and history.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Who said, "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today"?

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

separator icon
Patti Smith
motivation theme icon

I'm doing many different things to prepare for the inevitable failure of one of them.

separator icon
Jesse Eisenberg
hope theme icon

It isn't just talent. You have to have something else. You have to have a kind of nerve.

separator icon
Georgia O’Keeffe
love theme icon

Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.

separator icon
Virgil
wisdom theme icon

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

separator icon
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
happiness theme icon

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.

separator icon
Franz Kafka
motivation theme icon

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

separator icon
Michelangelo
hope theme icon

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.

separator icon
Joan Didion
love theme icon

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.

separator icon
Cornel West
wisdom theme icon

The quality of your life depends quite a bit on the quality of attention you project out onto the world.

separator icon
David Brooks
happiness theme icon

You can't learn style. Style, I think, is in your DNA.

separator icon
Iris Apfel