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One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everbody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody's business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Interpretation

What this quote means

While many advocate for peace, true commitment to achieving it is often lacking among those in power.

In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. highlights the contradiction between the widespread desire for peace and the lack of action taken by influential leaders to foster it. He suggests that although many people vocalize the importance of peace, they often neglect the necessary steps to achieve it, revealing a disconnect between words and deeds in the pursuit of harmony.

Themes

PeaceActionLeadershipCommitmentHypocrisy

In practice

Example use cases

During a peace rally, this quote could be used to emphasize the importance of action alongside advocacy.

More from Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.
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One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
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