Today (Monday, Jan. 16) the Martin Luther King Day holiday, a the time set aside to honor King, the slain civil rights leader who message of equality and justice changed America.

King, a native of Atlanta, was a minister who went on to lead the civil rights movement until his assassination on April 4, 1968.

READ MORE: Martin Luther King: Alabama’s ties to often-forgotten first assassination attempt on civil rights leader

Here are some of his most inspirational quotes and messages:

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

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

“We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop . . .I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“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.”

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.”

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.”