Quote of the day by Martin Luther King, Jr.: ‘Darkness cannot drive out…’

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States. Born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., King rose to national prominence as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which promoted nonviolent tactics, such as the massive March on Washington (1963), to achieve civil rights. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. At the age of thirty-five, he was the youngest man to have received the prize.

He attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen, according to the Nobel Prize website. He received the B.A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution in Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated.

He made an immense contribution in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States.


Quote of the day by Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." The quote of the day comes from his book Strength to Love, which was published in 1963.

Meaning of the Quote of the Day by Martin Luther King, Jr.: The quote reflects Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence, moral courage, and love as a force for social change, principles that guided the US civil rights movement under his leadership.

He asserted that responding to injustice or hatred with more hatred only deepens conflict, whereas love, compassion, and moral integrity have the power to transform individuals and societies.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Personal life and family

King met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments, in Boston. The couple had two sons and two daughters. He died April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. He was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city.