“A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live.”

—  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last update April 19, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live." 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

“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”

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

Variant: If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Source: The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”

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

1960s, Cobo Center speech (1963)

Ernesto Che Guevara photo

“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

As quoted in Wise Guys : Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men (2005) by Allan Zullo, p. 36

Seneca the Younger photo

“He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXX: On conquering the conqueror

Mark Tobey photo

“We have tried to fit man into abstraction, but he does not fit.”

Mark Tobey (1890–1976) American abstract expressionist painter

Statement in his Bahai lecture, Oct 30, 1951, as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 104
1950's

Shams-i Tabrizi photo

“Whoever lives as he sees fit will not die as he sees fit.”

Shams-i Tabrizi (1185–1248) 1185-1248, spiritual instructor of Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi.

Me & Rumi (2004)

Seneca the Younger photo

“That man lives badly who does not know how to die well.”

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

On Tranquility of the Mind

Voltaire photo

“The man, who in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Tel homme qui dans un excès de mélancolie se tue aujourd’hui aimerait à vivre s’il attendait huit jours.
"Cato" http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/18/caton.htm (1764)
Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

Anne McCaffrey photo

“Who wills, Can.
Who tries, Does.
Who loves, Lives.”

Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011) American-Irish novelist

Source: "Dragonrider", published in Analog (January 1968), p. 148; also in Dragonsong, (1976) Ch. 7, p. 89

Henry Fountain Ashurst photo

“No man is fit to be a Senator… unless he is willing to surrender his political life for great principle.”

Henry Fountain Ashurst (1874–1962) United States Senator from Arizona

"Ashurst, Defeated, Reviews Service". New York Times (September 12, 1940), p. 18.

Related topics