Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and postive action.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.

Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction.

Go and do, don't sit and stew.

if a thing is to be done, there is no time like the hour that has not struck.

You forgot my first lesson: don't hesitate.

Shun delays, they breed remorse;Take thy time while time is lent thee;Creeping snails have weakest force,Fly their fault lest thou repent thee.Good is best when soonest wrought,Linger'd labours come to nought.

The time to hesitate is through.

I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

If you wait until you are ready, it is almost certainly too late.

Be a doer, not a stewer.

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date.

The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.

This is the question I want everyone to ask yourself every single day when you come up with something you feel that needs to be done: if not now, then when? And if not me, then who?

He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.

Awareness without action is worthless.

When we hold back out of laziness, that is when we tie ourselves into knots of boredom.

I'm impatient. I get twitchy. When I get that feeling I just go out and make something happen.

I've been accused many times of not talking very much, but I guess I don't believe in talking things to death. You can talk too much on most anything and it stops being productive. There is a time for action. Eventually you have to pull the trigger.

Better reap two days too soon than one day too late

Unfortunately, this country requires body bags before it will act...

Don't talk of what you're "going to do!" Do it!