20 Martin Luther King Quotes for Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Each year since 1992 on the third Monday of January the United States celebrate Martin Luther King Day, commemorating the life and work of the nation’s legend and inspiration.

In honor of this great man of faith and vision, I’d like to devote my today’s blog post to his quotes that encourage me personally as an entrepreneur and leader. Here they are (in no particular order for who am I to rank them?)

1. “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
2. “Faith is taking the first step … even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
3. “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal …requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
4. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.”
5. “The time is always right to do what is right”
6. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
7. “I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
8. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
9. “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”
10. “Our lives begin to end the day we decide to become silent about things that matter.”
11. “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
12. “If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values — that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.”
13. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”
14. “We must use time creatively.”
15. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
16. “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
17. “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.”
18. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
19. “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”
20. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

If I’ve missed your personal favorite — especially if it can be applied in entrepreneurship or leadership — please do post it below, using the “Comments” area.