The spirit of Lincoln still lives; that spirit born of the teachings of the Nazarene, who promised mercy to the merciful, who lifted the lowly, strengthened the weak, ate with publicans, and made the captives free. In the light of this divine example, the doctrines of demagogues shiver in their chaff.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the enduring influence of Lincoln's compassionate spirit, rooted in the teachings of Jesus, in contrast to the empty rhetoric of demagogues.
Martin Luther King, Jr. reflects on the lasting legacy of Abraham Lincoln, suggesting that Lincoln's guiding principles of mercy and compassion, derived from the teachings of Jesus, are far more powerful and significant than the shallow doctrines propagated by demagogues. This quote highlights the importance of genuine kindness and moral leadership over empty political rhetoric, advocating for a society that embraces these values.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of compassion in leadership.
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.
I have to understand what my strengths and limitations are, and work from a true place. I try to do this as best I can while still protecting my writer self, which more than ever needs privacy.
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.
I had no ambition to be a writer because the books I read were too good, my standards were too high.
When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.
The best thing that can happen to a human being us to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.
We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.
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