My study of Gandhi convinced me that true pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolent resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love. . . .
Interpretation
True pacifism involves actively resisting evil nonviolently, rather than submitting to it passively.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes that true pacifism is not about avoiding confrontation with evil but rather involves a courageous and steadfast resistance against it through nonviolent means. He highlights the strength and power inherent in applying love to confront wrongdoings, distinguishing this approach from mere passivity.
In practice
This quote can be used during a speech advocating for peaceful protest methods.
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.
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
True charity requires courage: Let us overcome the fear of getting our hands dirty so as to help those in need.
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
I think it's good to be a little more fearless in saying what you feel. In not being scared of the repercussions of that.
I could not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought that such a man as Professor Moriarty were walking the streets of London unchallenged.
When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors.
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