Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lives a great street-sweeper who did his job well'.
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.
"We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal... We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means."
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.
Cowardice askes the question:"Is it safe"? Expediency asks the question:"Is it politic"? Vanity asks the question:"Is it popular?"But conscience asks the question:"Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one what is right.
"If we do not learn to live together as friends, we will die apart as fools."
Another way that you love your enemy is this:
When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.
There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person.
It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person
to make some move in life. That's the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis,
love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It's not merely an emotional something.
Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.
One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
