The Negro cannot win the respect of his oppressor by acquiescing; he merely increases the oppressor's arrogance and contempt.
Interpretation
Submitting to oppression does not earn respect, but fosters greater contempt from the oppressor.
In this powerful statement, Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes that compliance or passive acceptance of oppression only strengthens the oppressor's power and disdain. True respect can only be garnered through active resistance and the refusal to accept unjust treatment, as acquiescence signals weakness and encourages further abuse.
In practice
During a civil rights gathering to inspire awareness about social injustice.
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.
Giving anyone anything takes courage, since so many presents backfire. A gift conspicuously at odds with your tastes serves only to betray that the benefactor has no earthly clue who you are.
One thing I just want to say to the military families - while you might not wear a uniform, I know - we all know, the nation knows - that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.
I am a post-mastectomy woman who believes our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.
So long as you have courage and a sense of humor, it is never too late to start life afresh.
Yes, victors are our strongest. They're the ones who survived the arena and slipped the noose of poverty that strangles the rest of us. They, or should I say we, are the very embodiment of hope where there is no hope. And now twenty-three of us will be killed to show how even that hope was an illusion.
The way Everest is guided is very different from the way other mountains are guided, and it flies in the face of values I hold dear: self-reliance, taking responsibility for what you do, making your own decisions, trusting your judgment - the kind of judgment that comes only through paying your dues, through experience.
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