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Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Nonviolence involves rejecting both physical harm and hatred towards others.

This quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. highlights the concept of nonviolence as a holistic approach to conflict. It emphasizes that true nonviolence is not just about abstaining from physical aggression, but also entails overcoming internal feelings of anger and hatred, advocating for a compassionate and understanding stance towards others, even in the face of injustice.

Themes

NonviolenceLoveHatredCompassionPeace

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech promoting peaceful protests, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of love over hate.

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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Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
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We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
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We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
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Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
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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.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read

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