If a man is called a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

About Martin Luther King Jr.

Portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights in the United States through...

More quotations from Martin Luther King Jr.

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

friends silence enemies words

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

hate spirit nonviolence violence

History

22 May 2015 Added