Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. . . . But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And 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.

These lines come from Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech, delivered on April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ) in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before he was assassinated. King was in Memphis to support striking Black sanitation workers and to bolster the broader civil-rights and economic-justice campaign. In the speech—commonly known as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”—he reflects on threats to his life and frames the movement’s struggle in biblical terms, invoking Moses viewing the Promised Land. The passage functions as a valedictory reassurance to his audience that the cause would endure beyond any single leader.

King juxtaposes ordinary human desire (“to live a long life”) with a higher ethical and spiritual commitment (“to do God’s will”), presenting personal mortality as secondary to collective liberation. The “mountain” and “promised land” imagery recasts the civil-rights struggle as an exodus narrative: the leader may not enter the destination, but the people will. This both acknowledges danger and transforms it into resolve, shifting attention from King’s individual fate to the movement’s continuity. The passage’s power lies in its blend of prophetic cadence, communal address (“we as a people”), and moral certainty, offering consolation and determination in the face of violence and uncertainty.

1) “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.”
2) “He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land.”
3) “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life… But I’m not concerned about that now.”