I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the belief that people have the capacity to transcend their current moral limitations and strive for a higher ethical standard.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. argues against the notion that human beings are bound by their present nature and are therefore unable to aspire to a higher moral standard or 'oughtness.' He insists that individuals possess the potential to rise above their circumstances and strive for eternal truth and justice, inspiring hope and a call to action towards moral improvement.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth and change.
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.
Deep down there was understanding, not of the facts of our lives so much as of our essential natures.
The first question here, then, is not "What is best for my soul?" nor is it even "What is most useful to humanity?" But-transcending both these limited aims-what function must this life fulfill in the great and secret economy of God?
The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician.
For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to see them.
Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.
Everything gives way before the recurring torment and festivity of passion.
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