“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr. 658
American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968

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Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”

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

“To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. Religion reminds every man that he is his brother's keeper. To accept injustice”

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

1950s, Three Ways of Meeting Oppression (1958)
Context: To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. Religion reminds every man that he is his brother's keeper. To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right. It is a way of allowing his conscience to fall asleep. At this moment the oppressed fails to be his brother's keeper. So acquiescence-while often the easier way-is not the moral way. It is the way of the coward.

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“Help," he said "is giving part of yourself to somebody who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly.”

Norman Maclean (1902–1990) American author and scholar

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“He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

Chi non punisce il male comanda che si faccia.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.

“When you live life with him or without him, that is when he will accept and value you for who you are.”

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“He should accept me as I am!” says the woman who is too nice.
Accept you? Oh no, sister. Slap yourself. He should want you
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Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

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“He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.”

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