Even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

Martin Luther King Jr. used this “street sweeper” illustration in sermons and speeches to urge dignity in labor and excellence in whatever work one is called to do, regardless of social status. It appears in his preaching on vocation and service—often in church settings—where he connected everyday work to moral purpose and spiritual worth. The image resonated in the context of mid‑20th‑century racial and economic inequality: many Black Americans were confined to low-wage, low-prestige jobs, and King sought to affirm their inherent dignity while also calling for conscientious, transformative service. The passage is commonly associated with his sermon “The Drum Major Instinct.”

The quote argues that greatness is not reserved for celebrated professions; it is achieved through the spirit and quality with which one performs any task. By comparing street sweeping to Michelangelo, Beethoven, and Shakespeare, King collapses the hierarchy between “menial” labor and high art, insisting that excellence, integrity, and devotion confer nobility. The imagined praise—“Here lived a great street sweeper”—redefines legacy as faithful service rather than fame. In King’s broader moral vision, this is also a corrective to vanity and status-seeking: the desire to be “important” should be redirected into doing one’s work so well, and so lovingly, that it benefits the community and honors human dignity.