“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

—  Martin Luther King, Jr. , book Strength to Love

Strength to Love, Chapter 7
1960s, Strength to Love (1963)
Context: The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided man.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 19, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." by Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. 658
American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968

Related quotes

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided man.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. book Strength to Love

Strength to Love, Chapter 7
1960s, Strength to Love (1963)

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“Through our scientific genius we made of the world a neighborhood, but we failed through moral commitment to make of it a brotherhood, and so we’ve ended up with guided missiles and misguided men. And the great challenge is to move out of the mountain of practical materialism and move on to another and higher mountain which recognizes somehow that we must live by and toward the basic ends of life. We must move on to that mountain which says in substance,”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Keep Moving From This Mountain (1965)
Context: We have allowed our civilization to outrun our culture; we have allowed our technology to outdistance our theology and for this reason we find ourselves caught up with many problems. Through our scientific genius we made of the world a neighborhood, but we failed through moral commitment to make of it a brotherhood, and so we’ve ended up with guided missiles and misguided men. And the great challenge is to move out of the mountain of practical materialism and move on to another and higher mountain which recognizes somehow that we must live by and toward the basic ends of life. We must move on to that mountain which says in substance, "What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world of means — airplanes, televisions, electric lights — and lose the end: the soul?"

Cesar Chavez photo

“The growers in Delano have their spiritual problems… we do not deny that. They have every right to have priests and ministers who serve their needs. But we have different needs, and so we needed a friendly spiritual guide. And this is true in every community in this state where the poor face tremendous problems. But the opposition raises a tremendous howl about this. They don't want us to have our spiritual advisors, friendly to our needs. Why is this? Why indeed except that there is tremendous spiritual and economic power in the church. The rich know it, and for that reason they choose to keep it from the people.”

Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist

The Mexican-American and the Church (1968)

Thomas Carlyle photo

“In fact, the spiritual detriment we unconsciously suffer, in every province of our affairs, from this our prostrate respect to power of speech is incalculable.”

Thomas Carlyle book Latter-Day Pamphlets

1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), Stump Orator (May 1, 1850)

Stephen R. Covey photo

“We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
Haile Selassie photo

“Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator.”

Haile Selassie (1892–1975) Emperor of Ethiopia

On the Nomination of Archbishop Basilios (19 January 1951)

John Trudell photo

“We have to understand who we are and where we fit in the natural order of the world because our oppressor deals in illusions. They tell us that it is power, but it is not power. They may have all the guns and they may have all the racist laws and judges, and they may control all the money, but that is not power. These are imitations of power and they are only ‘power’ because in our minds we allow it to be power.”

John Trudell (1946–2015) Native American rights activist, musician, poet

"We are Power" speech (1980)

Karen Blixen photo

“We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power.”

Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Danish writer
Yemi Adamolekun photo

“I believe there is power in the words that we say, and our words have enough creative power such that what we say and believe in our minds & hearts shape our reality.”

Yemi Adamolekun Executive Director of Enough is Enough

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/10/nigeria-61-eie-11-light-hope-power-and-voice-opinion/ Speaking about Nigeria (October 18 2021 )

John F. Kennedy photo

“The most powerful single force in the world today is neither Communism nor Capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile -- it is man's eternal desire to be free and independent.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Related topics