Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, Jan. 20 and kids will be out of school to honor him. The federal holiday provides you the opportunity to share some of King’s most powerful quotes with your children as a way of starting a conversation. As an activist, Baptist minister and author, King’s memorable speeches include the historic “I Have a Dream” speech (shown here on You Tube) delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. It’s King’s words and actions during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s that made him so famous. His adoption of nonviolent resistance to achieve equal rights for black Americans earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Sometimes federal holidays come and go for kids without understanding what they are about. To enrich your children, here are 15 easy-to-absorb quotes from MLK.
Powerful Quotes from MLK to Share with Kids
In an easy way, share these quotes with your children as a way of honoring King’s legacy together:
- “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.'”
- “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
- “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
- “Believe in your dreams and they may come true. Believe in yourself and they will surely come true.”
- “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”
- “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
- “If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.”
- “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”
- “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
- “But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
- “There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
- “Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.”
- “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
- “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”
- “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”
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