We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Interpretation
We must take responsibility for our inaction against wrongdoing, not just the actions of those who do harm.
This quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes the moral obligation of individuals to speak out against injustice. It highlights that the failure to act or to remain silent in the face of wrongdoing is as culpable as the actions of those causing harm, urging people to be proactive in standing up for what is right.
In practice
This quote can be used in speeches advocating for social 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.
They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon.
To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage.
In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent journalists.
Harry, you wonderful boy, you brave, brave man.
The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.
No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.
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