Martin Luther King cytaty (683 cytatów, strona 15)

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. (ang.)
Źródło: Strength to Love, 1963.

O zachowaniu , O czasie

„Zrób pierwszy krok w wierze. Nie musisz widzieć całej drogi. Po prostu zrób pierwszy krok.”

Martin Luther King

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step. (ang.)

O wierze

„Bunt jest językiem niewysłuchanych.”

Martin Luther King

A riot is the language of the unheard. (ang.)
Źródło: All Labor Has Dignity, red. Michael K. Honey, Beacon Press, Boston 1963, s. 159.

„Marzę, iż pewnego dnia ten naród powstanie, aby żyć wedle prawdziwego znaczenia swego credo: „uważamy za prawdę oczywistą, że wszyscy ludzie zostali stworzeni równymi”.
Marzę, że pewnego dnia na czerwonych wzgórzach Georgii synowie dawnych niewolników i synowie dawnych właścicieli niewolników będą mogli zasiąść razem przy braterskim stole. (…)
Marzę, iż pewnego dnia moich czworo dzieci będzie żyło wśród narodu, w którym ludzi nie osądza się na podstawie koloru ich skóry, ale na podstawie tego, jacy są.”

Martin Luther King

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. (…)
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (ang.)
wygłoszone 28 sierpnia 1963 na wiecu w Waszyngtonie.
Źródło: americanrhetoric.com/speeches http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

O dzieciach , O ludziach , O snach

„Ten kto biernie akceptuje zło, jest za nie tak samo odpowiedzialny jak ten, co je popełnia.”

Martin Luther King

O złu

„Nigdy nie zapominaj, że wszystko, co Hitler uczynił w Niemczech, było legalne.”

Martin Luther King

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. (ang.)

O zapominaniu

„Nauczyliśmy się fruwać niczym ptaki na niebie, pływać jak ryby w morzach, ale nie nauczyliśmy się tej prostej sztuki, by żyć ze sobą jak bracia.”

Martin Luther King

We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. (ang.)
Źródło: Strenght to Love, 1963

O ptakach , O rybach

„Znamy upokorzenia, znamy obraźliwy język, zepchnięto nas w otchłań opresji. I zdecydowaliśmy się podnieść, czyniąc protest naszą jedyną bronią. To, że mamy prawo do protestu, przysparza Ameryce ogromnej chwały.
Nawet jeśli codziennie jesteśmy zatrzymywani, wykorzystywani, deptani, to nigdy nie pozwólmy nikomu sprawić, że upadniemy tak nisko, by zacząć go nienawidzić. Musimy użyć oręża miłości. Musimy współczuć tym, którzy nas nienawidzą, i być dla nich wyrozumiali. Musimy uświadomić sobie, że wielu z nich nauczono, by nas nienawidzili, i że ludzie ci nie są w pełni odpowiedzialni za swoją nienawiść. Lecz w naszym życiu stoimy u progu dnia, jesteśmy zawsze tuż przed świtem.”

Martin Luther King

w 1956, przemawiając w Montgomery w Alabamie.
Źródło: Howard Zinn, Ludowa historia Stanów Zjednoczonych. Od roku 1492 do dziś, tłum. Andrzej Wojtasik, Wyd. Krytyki Politycznej, Warszawa 2016, s. 585.

O nienawiści , O ludziach , O historii

„Jeśli ktokolwiek z was będzie w pobliżu, gdy dożyję swoich dni, wiedzcie, że nie chcę długiego pogrzebu, a jeśli ktoś ma wygłosić mowę, powiedzcie mu, by nie mówił zbyt długo. Powiedzcie mu, by nie wspominał o pokojowej Nagrodzie Nobla - to nie jest istotne. (…) Chciałbym, żeby ktoś wspomniał o dniu, w którym Martin Luther King Jr. próbował oddać swoje życie, służąc innym. Chciałbym, by powiedziano, że tego dnia Martin Luther King Jr. próbował kogoś kochać.”

Martin Luther King

Źródło: Marzenie Luthera Kinga http://www.newsweek.pl/felietony/marzenie-luthera-kinga,13106,1,1.html, newsweek.pl, 31 października 2006

Kochać się , O życiu

To tłumaczenie czeka na recenzję. Czy to jest poprawne?

„Teraz nieuchronnie powstanie pytanie: jak więc pokonać egoizm?”

Martin Luther King

Pytanie , O egoiźmie

To tłumaczenie czeka na recenzję. Czy to jest poprawne?

„Człowiek, który nie ma niczego, za co mógłby umrzeć, nie nadaje się do życia.”

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King: Cytaty po angielsku

“As I look at drunkard men walking the streets of Montgomery and of other cities every day, I find myself saying, “But by the grace of God, you too would be a drunkard.” As I look at those who have lost balance of themselves and those who are giving their lives to a tragic life of pleasure and throwing away everything they have in riotous living, I find myself saying, “But by the grace of God, I too would be here.” And when you see that point, you cannot be arrogant. But you walk through life with a humility that takes away the self-centeredness that makes you a disintegrated personality.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1950s, Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)

“And I say to you this morning in conclusion that I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in things. I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in gadgets and contrivances. As a young man with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Not in the little gods that can be with us in a few moments of prosperity, but in the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, and causes us to fear no evil. That's the God. Not in the god that can give us a few Cadillac cars and Buick convertibles, as nice as they are, that are in style today and out of style three years from now, but the God who threw up the stars to bedeck the heavens like swinging lanterns of eternity. Not in the god that can throw up a few skyscraping buildings, but the God who threw up the gigantic mountains, kissing the sky, as if to bathe their peaks in the lofty blues. Not in the god that can give us a few televisions and radios, but the God who threw up that great cosmic light that gets up early in the morning in the eastern horizon, (who paints its technicolor across the blue—something that man could never make. I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in the little gods that can be destroyed in an atomic age, but the God who has been our help in ages past, and our hope for years to come, and our shelter in the time of storm, and our eternal home. That's the God that I'm putting my ultimate faith in.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1950s, Rediscovering Lost Values (1954)

“Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)
Kontekst: Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: "Improved means to an unimproved end". This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual "lag" must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the "without" of man's nature subjugates the "within", dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.

“I feel that segregation is totally unchristian, and that it is against everything the Christian religion stands for.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his letter to Sally Canada (19 September 1956), as quoted in The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr (1992), by Carson & Holloran, Volumes 2-3, p. 373
1950s

“Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, (1963)

“I cannot forget that the Nobel Peace Prize was not just something taking place, but it was a commission — a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for the brotherhood of Man. This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances. But even if it were not present, I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me, the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the Good News was meant for all men, for communists and capitalists, for their children and ours, for black and white, for revolutionary and conservative. Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the One who loved His enemies so fully that he died for them? What, then, can I say to the Vietcong, or to Castro, or to Mao, as a faithful minister to Jesus Christ? Can I threaten them with death, or must I not share with them my life?”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam (1967)

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther (King's namesake)
Misattributed

“We too know the Jesus that the minister referred to. We have had an experience with him and we believe firmly in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. I can see no conflict between our devotion to Jesus Christ and our present action. In fact, I can see a necessary relationship. If one is truly devoted to the religion of Jesus he will seek to rid the earth of social evils. The gospel is social as well as personal..”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stride Toward Freedom (1958); also quoted in The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1982), by Stephen B. Oates, pp. 81-82
1950s
Wariant: We believe firmly in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. I can see no conflict between our devotion to Jesus Christ and our present action. In fact, I can see a necessary relationship. If one is truly devoted to the religion of Jesus he will seek to rid the earth of social evils. The gospel is social as well as personal.

“A host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts among husbands, wives and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on the scale of dollars is eliminated.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

“Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race which no one can win to a positive contest to harness man's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all of the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a "peace race". If we have the will and determination to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)

“Finally, the proper religious faith gives you this type of balance and this type of perspective that I’m talking about. This, you see, is something of the genius of great religion, that on the one hand, it gives man a sense of belonging and on the other hand, it gives him a sense of dependence on something higher. So he realizes that there is something beyond in which he lives and moves and even moves and gains his being. This is what great religion does for him.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1950s, Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)

“This man talked like he could build the barns by himself, like he could till the soil by himself. And he failed to realize that wealth is always a result of the commonwealth.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool (1967)

“Negroes could contain their rage when they found the means to force relatively radical changes in their environment. / In the North, on the other hand, street demonstrations were not even a mild expression of militancy. The turmoil of cities absorbs demonstrations as merely transitory drama which is ordinary in city life. Without a more effective tactic for upsetting the status quo, the power structure could maintain its intransigence and hostility.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement (1967)

“Let me say finally that I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against this war, not in anger, but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and, above all, with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as the moral example of the world. I speak out against this war because I am disappointed with America. And there can be no great disappointment where there is not great love. I am disappointed with our failure to deal positively and forthrightly with the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam (1967)

“Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on until every valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the leveling process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)

“On the other hand, we must see what peace for the Arabs means in a real sense of security on another level. Peace for the Arabs means the kind of economic security that they so desperately need. These nations, as you know, are part of that third world of hunger, of disease, of illiteracy. I think that as long as these conditions exist there will be tensions, there will be the endless quest to find scapegoats. So there is a need for a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, where we lift those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder and bring them into the mainstream of economic security.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

68th Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly for Conservative Judaism, March 25, 1968, less than 2 weeks before his death. Source: Martin Luther King's pro-Israel legacy by Allen B. West on February 15, 2014 at AllenBWest.com. http://allenbwest.com/2014/02/martin-luther-kings-pro-israel-legacy/, See also 2014-06-09 Youtube video Dr. King's pro-Israel Legacy (in 5 minutes) by IBSI - Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dd7pIB0CP0
1960s

“The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, (1963)

“It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, I've Been to the Mountaintop (1968)

“The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in its system. And this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it that you can see the mote in your brother’s eye and not see the beam in your own eye?" Or to put it in Moffatt’s translation: "How is it that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves. And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (November 1957)

“It is perfectly clear that a violent revolution on the part of American blacks would find no sympathy and support from the white population and very little from the majority of Negroes themselves. This is no time for romantic illusions and empty philosophical debates about freedom. This is a time for action. What is needed is a strategy for change, a tactical program that will bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible. So far, this has only been offered by the nonviolent movement. Without recognizing this we will end up with solutions that don't solve, answers that don't answer and explanations that don't explain.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts the human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, (1963)

“Segregation is wrong because it is a system of adultery perpetuated by an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Cobo Center speech (1963)

“What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions who are its victims.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Family Planning - A Special and Urgent Concern (1966)

“The third way open to oppressed people in their quest for freedom is the way of nonviolent resistance.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1950s, Three Ways of Meeting Oppression (1958)
Kontekst: The third way open to oppressed people in their quest for freedom is the way of nonviolent resistance. Like the synthesis in Hegelian philosophy, the principle of nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites, acquiescence and violence, while avoiding the extremes and immoralities of both. The nonviolent resister agrees with the person who acquiesces that one should not be physically aggressive toward his opponent; but he balances the equation by agreeing with the person of violence that evil must be resisted. He avoids the nonresistance of the former and the violent resistance of the latter. With nonviolent resistance, no individual or group need submit to any wrong, nor need anyone resort to violence in order to right a wrong.

“What happens in Johannesburg affects Birmingham, however indirectly. We are descendants of the Africans. Our heritage is Africa. We should never seek to break the ties, nor should the Africans.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Interview in Playboy (January 1965) https://web.archive.org/web/20080706183244/http://www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment/features/mlk/04.html
1960s

“In the struggle for human rights and justice, Negros will make a mistake if they become bitter and indulge in hate campaigns.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Speech delivered in Finney Chapel at Oberlin College (7 February 1957), as reported in "When MLK came to Oberlin" by Cindy Leise (The Chronicle-Telegram; January 21, 2008) http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2008/01/21/when-mlk-came-to-oberlin/
1950s

“Beyond the war years the grim and tortured struggle of Negroes to win their own freedom is an epic of battle against frightful odds. If we have failed to do enough, it was not the will for freedom that was weak, but the forces against us which were too strong.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Address (1962)

“There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark," but will curse and damn you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children."”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is something wrong with that press.
1960s, Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam (1967)

“Whenever racial discrimination exists it is a tragic expression of man’s spiritual degeneracy and moral bankruptcy. Therefore, it must be removed not merely because it is diplomatically expedient, but because it is morally compelling.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

1960s, The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousnes (1960)

“There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize — I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to — segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Social Justice and the Emerging New Age" http://www.wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/MLK.pdf address at the Herman W. Read Fieldhouse, Western Michigan University (18 December 1963)
1960s
Kontekst: There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize — I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to — segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self-defeating effects of physical violence. But in a day when sputniks and explorers are dashing through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. It is no longer the choice between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence…