We've been in the mountain of war. We've been in the mountain of violence. We've been in the mountain of hatred long enough. It is necessary to move on now, but only by moving out of this mountain can we move to the promised land of justice and brotherhood and the Kingdom of God. It all boils down to the fact that we must never allow ourselves to become satisfied with unattained goals. We must always maintain a kind of divine discontent.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of moving beyond negativity towards a better future, while remaining motivated by our unfulfilled aspirations.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. highlights the challenges humanity faces, represented as mountains of war, violence, and hatred. He insists that to reach a future characterized by justice and brotherhood, it is essential to leave behind these negative states and strive for unattained goals with a sense of divine discontent. King suggests that true progress and fulfillment come from a persistent pursuit of betterment and a refusal to accept the status quo.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about social change and justice.
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.
The purpose of the gospel is to transform common creatures into celestial citizens, and that requires change.
We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.
Not to wax nostalgic about the 1970s, but back then people got upset when they saw injustice. They got tired of seeing our air, land and water polluted. They were shocked when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was polluted so badly it caught fire. And on one great day 20 million Americans marched all across this land. Politicians had no choice but to take notice.
I want a future where my children feel safe and appreciated and proud to be who they are. My heart is one with all the Arab Spring heroes, no matter how small they think their role is. I know they believe, like me, that we are working for a world whereby an Arab can live with the other in a respectful and dignified way.
Each moment is a moment of choice ~ a time to leave the old, the limited, the restrained, and the contracted for the new, the unbound, and the liberating potential that expands before you.
When I was maybe eight or nine years old, I first learned about the climate crisis in school. My teachers taught me about it and we saw films and pictures of plastic in the ocean and extreme weather events. Those pictures were just stuck in my head; I thought, there is no point in anything.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.