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Unless you have found something in life to live for that is more important to you than your own life, you will always be a slave. For all another man needs to do is threaten to take your life to get you to do his bidding.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Interpretation

What this quote means

True freedom comes from having a purpose greater than oneself.

This quote emphasizes the importance of having a deep-seated purpose or cause that transcends individual existence. Martin Luther King, Jr. suggests that without such a purpose, individuals may find themselves subservient to others, easily manipulated by fears for their own survival. In essence, to truly live freely, one must prioritize ideals that surpass mere self-interest.

Themes

PurposeFreedomLifeMeaningServitude

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a motivational speech about finding one's purpose in life.

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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Quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. | QuoteProject