H. L. Mencken? Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The U.S. satirist and curmudgeon H. L. Mencken apparently employed the following saying. Here are two versions: The trouble with communism are the communists. The trouble with communism is the communists. If this remark is authentic would you please help me to find a …
Category Archives: Martin Luther King
True Peace Is Not Merely the Absence of Tension; It Is the Presence of Justice
Martin Luther King? Elizabeth Tipton Derieux? Alton Hawkins? United Presbyterian Church? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A political activist once stated something like the following: Peace is more than the absence of conflict and tension. Genuine peace requires the presence of justice. This notion has been attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. Would you please explore …
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Fear of Something Is at the Root of Hate for Others, and Hate Within Will Ultimately Destroy the Hater
George Washington Carver? Alvin D. Smith? Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Prominent scientist and educator George Washington Carver believed that fear lay at the root of hatred, and hatred would eventually lead to the destruction of the hater. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: Alvin D. Smith …
Hate Ultimately Destroys the Hater
Henry Norman? A. P. Buchman? George Washington Carver? Alvin D. Smith? Louis N. Whealton? Frederick C. Walcott? Peter Witt? Martin Luther King Jr.? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Loathing and hostility are intense emotions which are difficult to control. Here is an applicable adage: Hatred destroys the hater. Would you please explore the provenance of this …
Appalling Silence of the Good People
Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. expressed unhappiness with people who were unwilling to support his efforts due to apathy or fear. He used the phrase “appalling silence”. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1958 Martin Luther King Jr. published …
I Destroy My Enemies When I Make Them My Friends
Abraham Lincoln? Emperor Sigismund? Martin Luther King? Loretta Young? Mark Twain? Cardinal Richelieu? Robert Jones Burdette? John Wooden? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The leader of a victorious group decided to treat the vanquished people with compassion. Critics of the leader were unhappy because they believed that the enemies deserved destruction. Here are three versions of …
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Take the First Step in Faith. You Don’t Have To See the Whole Staircase, Just Take the First Step
Martin Luther King Jr.? Marian Wright Edelman? George Sweeting? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has received credit for a stimulating remark about faith. Here are two versions: (1) Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. (2) Take the first step in …
Quote Origin: We Are Taught To Fly in the Air Like Birds, and To Swim in the Water Like the Fishes; But How To Live on the Earth We Don’t Know
George Bernard Shaw? Martin Luther King? Maxim Gorky? Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan? C. E. M. Joad? Walter Winchell? Jack Paar? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Technological progress today is shockingly vertiginous, but advancements toward human reconciliation and harmony are glacially slow. A saying from the previous century treats this topic with poignancy: Now that we have learned …
Life’s Most Persistent and Urgent Question Is, “What Are You Doing for Others?”
Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A speech by the civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. included a section about the importance of altruism versus selfishness; he posed the following question: What are you doing for others? Would you please help me to locate this quotation? Quote Investigator: The 1963 collection “Strength …
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Of All the Forms of Inequality, Injustice in Health Is the Most Shocking and Inhuman
Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: While reading about the economics of health care I came across the following statement attributed to the famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. A writer at “The Huffington Post” …