Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Interpretation
Nonviolence involves rejecting both physical harm and hatred towards others.
This quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. highlights the concept of nonviolence as a holistic approach to conflict. It emphasizes that true nonviolence is not just about abstaining from physical aggression, but also entails overcoming internal feelings of anger and hatred, advocating for a compassionate and understanding stance towards others, even in the face of injustice.
In practice
In a speech promoting peaceful protests, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of love over hate.
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.
Have the courage of your knowledge and experience. If you have formed a conclusion from the facts and if you know your judgment is sound, act on it β even though others may hesitate or differ.
There is no power in the world that can stop the forward march of free men and women when they are joined in the solidarity of human brotherhood.
Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
I sat down in the sand, breathless with shame and failure. God, I thought, some defender of the weak. Some freedom fighter: Joan of Arc in sunscreen.
A novel takes the courage of a marathon runner, and as long as you have to run, you might as well be a winning marathon runner. Serendipity and blind faith faith in yourself won't hurt a thing. All the bastards in the world will snicker and sneer because they haven't the talent to zip up their flies by themselves. To hell with them, particularly the critics. Stand in there, son, no matter how badly you are battered and hurt.
There are people of conscience all over the world, famous leaders, as well as unsung heroes and 'sheroes,' who are carrying forward the nonviolent movement for freedom and human rights.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.