How Did Martin Luther King Jr. Define Success and Achievement?

If you wish to know what success truly means, you must first understand what failure is. So many of your contemporaries measure their lives by the accumulation of material possessions, by position and prestige, by how much they have garnered for themselves. This is a hollow and empty definition of success.

I have always believed that true success is measured by the lives you touch and the world you improve. It is measured not by how high you climb, but by how many you lift with you as you climb. When I think of my life's work, I do not count my achievements in terms of fame or comfort—I count them in the souls awakened to justice, in barriers broken down, in the dignity restored to those society had deemed unworthy.

Success is fidelity to a great cause. It is the willingness to sacrifice your comfort, your safety, your very life if necessary, for something greater than yourself. A man who dies without standing for something meaningful has not truly lived, regardless of his wealth or position.

I tell you plainly: you will face pressure to compromise your principles for gain. The world will offer you rewards for silence, for acquiescence, for turning away from injustice. Real success demands that you refuse these false rewards. It requires that you measure your life by the standard of love and service.

Ask yourself: When I leave this earth, will the world be more just? Will those who suffered have been comforted? Will those in darkness have found light? If your answer is yes, then you have achieved true success. You may not be wealthy. You may not be famous. But you will have lived a life of meaning, and that is the only success worth achieving.