Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of acting on one's conscience rather than seeking safety, popularity, or political gain.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. underscores the struggle between choosing a path that is safe, politically advantageous, or popular, versus the moral imperative to do what is right. He advocates for taking a stand based on conscience, even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular, highlighting the necessity of courage in the pursuit of justice and moral integrity.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about social justice to inspire action for what is morally right.
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
The higher man is distinguished from the lower by his fearlessness and his readiness to challenge misfortune.
The truth is harsh." Anubis said. "Spirits come to the Hall of Judgement all the time, and they cannot let go of their lies. They deny their faults, their true feelings, their mistakes.......right up until Ammit devours their souls for eternity. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.
Human life is important and it feels like there is not a concern in communities of color. Very frustrated, but we will never give up and lose hope and change our system.
When there is oppression and dictatorship, by not speaking out, we lose our dignity.
If you demand that everything that happens be something you are adequately prepared for, I wonder if you’ve chosen never to leap in ways that we need you to leap. Once we embrace this chasm, then for the things for which we can never be prepared, we are of course, always prepared.
We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the conquest and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: None is at hand. We must now act or abandon all hope!
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.