No man (sic) has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self-contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still and stale, it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns.
Interpretation
True living comes from caring about others, not just oneself.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes that a meaningful life transcends individual interests and embraces the broader responsibilities we have towards humanity. He illustrates the importance of connecting our personal lives with the needs of the community, likening a life focused only on self-interest to a stagnant water body that cannot sustain itself or contribute to the larger world.
In practice
In a speech about community service, this quote can inspire attendees to think beyond themselves.
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.
We are Physical, Mental and Spiritual beings. If you don't deal with ALL OF LIFE you're not going to get all that life has to offer.
Nothing is hidden so much that it wouldn't be revealed through its fruit.
A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre Dame. Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny wrinkle in his eyes: I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.
See if you can catch yourself complaining in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
It is our responsibility to learn to become emotionally intelligent. These are skills, they’re not easy, nature didn’t give them to us - we have to learn them.
The Warrior of the light knows that when somebody wants something, the whole Universe conspires in their favor.
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