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Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
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I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World)
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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.)
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There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
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Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness.
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George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, 5-Book Boxed Set: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons (Song of Ice & Fire 1-5))
β
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
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.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.
β
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
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Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
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When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Power resides only where men believe it resides. [...] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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There comes a time when silence is betrayal.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
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.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr. (I Have a Dream)
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We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer and I have my mind...and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much Jon Snow.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
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If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
There's no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
the time is always right to do the right thing
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Valar Morghulis.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
He who hurries through life hurries to his grave.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
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The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World)
β
So many vows... they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. Itβs too much. No matter what you do, youβre forsaking one vow or the other.
β
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)
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Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn that soon enough...and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all.
β
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
If you need help bark like a dog." - Gendry.
"That's stupid. If I need help I'll shout help." - Arya
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
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All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.
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Martin Luther King Jr. (Why We Can't Wait)
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I want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. Iβm so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, thatβs all β¦a day β¦ an hour ...
...One day, she promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong.
But not today. It could not be today.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of lightβyears and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.
β
β
Carl Sagan (The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark)
β
Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they canβt stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes theyβll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. Thatβs love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. Thereβs something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from "Loving Your Enemies")
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.)
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The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?
There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
There are no men like me. There's only me
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β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.
β
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Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Itβs all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Those are brave men... lets go kill them
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome.
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β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Will you make a song for him?' the woman asked.
'He has a song,' the man replied. 'He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
You are your mother's trueborn son of Lannister."
"Am I?" the dwarf replied, sardonic. "Do tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he's never been sure."
"I don't even know who my mother was," Jon said.
"Some woman, no doubt. Most of them are." He favored Jon with a rueful grin. "Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs."
And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune.
When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Strength to Love)
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I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon but i want to STAY ALIVE.
β
β
Madonna
β
Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Why We Can't Wait)
β
A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
There is no gain without struggle.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
And any man who must say 'I am king' is no true king at all.
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β
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
β
True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr. (The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
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It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I am loyal to my beloved Joffrey. (Sansa)
No doubt. As loyal as a deer surrounded by wolves. (Tyrion)
Lions, she whispered without thinking.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A right delayed is a right denied.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches)
β
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal)
β
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.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he'll look you straight in the face.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Only a fool humbles himself when the world is so full of men eager to do that job for him.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling. (Varys)
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mindβ¦ and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. Thatβs why I read so much, Jon Snow.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)
β
Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5))
β
One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Strength to Love)
β
One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I am become a sour woman, Catelyn thought. I take no joy in mead nor meat, and song and laughter have become suspicious strangers to me. I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. There is an empty place within me where my heart was once.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.
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β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A lie cannot live.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized, cruelly mocked, but it an never be taken away unless it is surrendered.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
β
One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)
β
Hate destroys the hater...
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Be The Peace You Wish To See In The World!
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he's copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Was there ever a war where only one side bled?
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
What affects one in a major way, affects all in a minor way.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
If there are gods, why is the world so full of pain and injustice?'
'Because of men like you.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Those are brave men," he told Ser Balon in admiration. "Let's go kill them.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
In the end words are just wind.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)
β
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies...but the silence of our friends.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
β
β
Mark Long (The Silence of Our Friends)
β
We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted her his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
No matter how old you are now. You are never too young or too old for success or going after what you want. Hereβs a short list of people who accomplished great things at different ages
1) Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didnβt stop her. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
2) Mozart was already competent on keyboard and violin; he composed from the age of 5.
3) Shirley Temple was 6 when she became a movie star on βBright Eyes.β
4) Anne Frank was 12 when she wrote the diary of Anne Frank.
5) Magnus Carlsen became a chess Grandmaster at the age of 13.
6) Nadia ComΔneci was a gymnast from Romania that scored seven perfect 10.0 and won three gold medals at the Olympics at age 14.
7) Tenzin Gyatso was formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in November 1950, at the age of 15.
8) Pele, a soccer superstar, was 17 years old when he won the world cup in 1958 with Brazil.
9) Elvis was a superstar by age 19.
10) John Lennon was 20 years and Paul Mcartney was 18 when the Beatles had their first concert in 1961.
11) Jesse Owens was 22 when he won 4 gold medals in Berlin 1936.
12) Beethoven was a piano virtuoso by age 23
13) Issac Newton wrote Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica at age 24
14) Roger Bannister was 25 when he broke the 4 minute mile record
15) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity
16) Lance E. Armstrong was 27 when he won the tour de France
17) Michelangelo created two of the greatest sculptures βDavidβ and βPietaβ by age 28
18) Alexander the Great, by age 29, had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world
19) J.K. Rowling was 30 years old when she finished the first manuscript of Harry Potter
20) Amelia Earhart was 31 years old when she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
21) Oprah was 32 when she started her talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind
22) Edmund Hillary was 33 when he became the first man to reach Mount Everest
23) Martin Luther King Jr. was 34 when he wrote the speech βI Have a Dream."
24) Marie Curie was 35 years old when she got nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics
25) The Wright brothers, Orville (32) and Wilbur (36) invented and built the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight
26) Vincent Van Gogh was 37 when he died virtually unknown, yet his paintings today are worth millions.
27) Neil Armstrong was 38 when he became the first man to set foot on the moon.
28) Mark Twain was 40 when he wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and 49 years old when he wrote "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
29) Christopher Columbus was 41 when he discovered the Americas
30) Rosa Parks was 42 when she refused to obey the bus driverβs order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger
31) John F. Kennedy was 43 years old when he became President of the United States
32) Henry Ford Was 45 when the Ford T came out.
33) Suzanne Collins was 46 when she wrote "The Hunger Games"
34) Charles Darwin was 50 years old when his book On the Origin of Species came out.
35) Leonardo Da Vinci was 51 years old when he painted the Mona Lisa.
36) Abraham Lincoln was 52 when he became president.
37) Ray Kroc Was 53 when he bought the McDonalds Franchise and took it to unprecedented levels.
38) Dr. Seuss was 54 when he wrote "The Cat in the Hat".
40) Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III was 57 years old when he successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009. All of the 155 passengers aboard the aircraft survived
41) Colonel Harland Sanders was 61 when he started the KFC Franchise
42) J.R.R Tolkien was 62 when the Lord of the Ring books came out
43) Ronald Reagan was 69 when he became President of the US
44) Jack Lalane at age 70 handcuffed, shackled, towed 70 rowboats
45) Nelson Mandela was 76 when he became President
β
β
Pablo
β
Why should death make a man truthful, or even clever? The dead are likely dull fellows, full of tedious complaints - the ground's too cold, my gravestone should be larger, why does he get more worms than I do...
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
How can you still count yourself a knight, when you have forsaken every vow you ever swore?"
Jaime reached for the flagon to refill his cup. "So many vows...they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Perhaps that is the secret. It is not what we do, so much as why we do it.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
I wish I was home", She said miserably.
She tried so hard to be brave,
to be fierce as a wolverine and all,
but some times she felt she was a little girl after all.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
The singers make much of kings who valiantly die in battle, but your life is worth more than a sword. To me at least, who gave it to you.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
β
That there are such devices as firearms, as easy to operate as cigarette lighters and as cheap as toasters, capable at anybody's whim of killing Father or Fats or Abraham Lincoln or John Lennon or Martin Luther King, Jr., or a woman pushing a baby carriage, should be proof enough for anybody that being alive is a crock of shit.
β
β
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Timequake)
β
Find a voice in a whisper.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Why We Can't Wait)
β
We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today β my own government.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Why We Can't Wait)
β
There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right....
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Great wrongs have been done you, but the past is dust. The future may yet be won ..
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Pigmentation was a quick and convenient way of judging a person. One of us, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once proposed we instead judge people by the content of their character. He was shot.
β
β
Jon Stewart (Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race)
β
Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
True knights protect the weak.β
He snorted. βThere are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you canβt protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. Sharp steel and strong arms rule this world, donβt ever believe any different.β
Sansa backed away from him. βYouβre awful.β
βIβm honest. Itβs the world thatβs awful.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters...
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words βToo Lateβ.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Every condition exists,β Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, βsimply because someone profits by its existence. This economic exploitation is crystallized in the slum.β Exploitation. Now, thereβs a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate.
β
β
Matthew Desmond (Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City)
β
We were kingβs men, knights, and heroes . . . but some knights are dark and full of terror, my lady. War makes monsters of us all.β
βAre you saying you are monsters?β
βI am saying we are human. You are not the only one with wounds, Lady Brienne
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4))
β
Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;
Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency ask the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?
But conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? ... It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws. (from "Rediscovering Lost Values")
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.)
β
Tyrion let the eunuch help him mount. "Lord Varys," he said from the saddle, "sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King's Landing and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy."
"How odd. I think quite the same of you.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
The stone is strong. Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I'm not dead either.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. ... A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?)
β
I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight, I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.
β
β
Theodore Parker (The present aspect of slavery in America and the immediate duty of the North: a speech delivered in the hall of the State house, before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Convention, on Friday night, January 29, 1858)
β
In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...
This is the inter-related structure of reality.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from Birmingham Jail: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation: Library Edition)
β
The years pass in their hundreds and their thousands, and what does any man see of life but a few summers, a few winters? We look at mountains and call them eternal, and so they seem... but in the course of time, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from the sky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. Even gods die, we think. Everything changes.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
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. Thatβs 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. Itβs 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.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Oh, I think not,β Varys said, swirling the wine in his cup. βPower is a curious thing, my lord. Perchance you have considered the riddle I posed you that day in the inn?β
βIt has crossed my mind a time or two,β Tyrion admitted. βThe king, the priest, the rich manβwho lives and who dies? Who will the swordsman obey? Itβs a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. All depends on the man with the sword.β
βAnd yet he is no one,β Varys said. βHe has neither crown nor gold nor favor of the gods, only a piece of pointed steel.β
βThat piece of steel is the power of life and death.β
βJust soβ¦ yet if it is the swordsmen who rule us in truth, why do we pretend our kings hold the power? Why should a strong man with a sword ever obey a child king like Joffrey, or a wine-sodden oaf like his father?β
βBecause these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords.β
βThen these other swordsmen have the true power. Or do they?β Varys smiled. βSome say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law. Yet that day on the steps of Baelorβs Sept, our godly High Septon and the lawful Queen Regent and your ever-so-knowledgeable servant were as powerless as any cobbler or cooper in the crowd. Who truly killed Eddard Stark, do you think? Joffrey, who gave the command? Ser Ilyn Payne, who swung the sword? Orβ¦ another?β
Tyrion cocked his head sideways. βDid you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head ache worse?β
Varys smiled. βHere, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.β
βSo power is a mummerβs trick?β
βA shadow on the wall,β Varys murmured, βyet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.β
Tyrion smiled. βLord Varys, I am growing strangely fond of you. I may kill you yet, but I think Iβd feel sad about it.β
βI will take that as high praise.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraidβ¦. You refuse to do it because you want to live longerβ¦. Youβre afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or youβre afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand.
Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but youβre just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
She has the blood of a wolf,β said Joffrey.
βAnd you have the wits of a goose,β said Tyrion.
βYou canβt talk to me that way. The king can do as he likes.β
βAerys Targaryen did as he liked. Has you mother ever told you what happened to him?β
Ser Boros Blount harrumphed. βNo man threatens His Grace in the presence of the Kingsguard.β
Tyrion Lannister raised an eyebrow. βI am not threating the king, ser, I am educating my nephew. Bronn, Timett, the next time Ser Boros opens his mouth, kill him.β The dwarf smiled. βNow that was a threat, ser. See the difference?
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shore, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it. Our children are still taught to respect the violence which reduced a red-skinned people of an earlier culture into a few fragmented groups herded into impoverished reservations.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)
β
One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying. A persistent schizophrenia leaves so many of us tragically divided against ourselves. On the one hand, we proudly profess certain sublime and noble principles, but on the other hand, we sadly practise the very antithesis of these principles. How often are our lives characterised by a high blood pressure of creeds and an anaemia of deeds! We talk eloquently about our commitment to the principles of Christianity, and yet our lives are saturated with the practices of paganism. We proclaim our devotion to democracy, but we sadly practise the very opposite of the democratic creed. We talk passionately about peace, and at the same time we assiduously prepare for war. We make our fervent pleas for the high road of justice, and then we tread unflinchingly the low road of injustice. This strange dichotomy, this agonising gulf between the ought and the is, represents the tragic theme of man's earthly pilgrimage.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr. (Strength to Love)
β
I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Da. This is going very well already."
Thomas barked out a laugh. "There are seven of us against the Red King and his thirteen most powerful nobles, and it's going well?"
Mouse sneezed.
"Eight," Thomas corrected himself. He rolled his eyes and said, "And the psycho death faerie makes it nine."
"It is like movie," Sanya said, nodding. "Dibs on Legolas."
"Are you kidding?" Thomas said. "I'm obviously Legolas. You're . . ." He squinted thoughtfully at Sanya and then at Martin. "Well. He's Boromir and you're clearly Aragorn."
"Martin is so dour, he is more like Gimli." Sanya pointed at Susan. "Her sword is much more like Aragorn's."
"Aragorn wishes he looked that good," countered Thomas.
"What about Karrin?" Sanya asked.
"What--for Gimli?" Thomas mused. "She is fairly--"
"Finish that sentence, Raith, and we throw down," said Murphy in a calm, level voice.
"Tough," Thomas said, his expression aggrieved. "I was going to say 'tough.' "
As the discussion went on--with Molly's sponsorship, Mouse was lobbying to claim Gimli on the basis of being the shortest, the stoutest, and the hairiest--
"Sanya," I said. "Who did I get cast as?"
"Sam," Sanya said.
I blinked at him. "Not . . . Oh, for crying out loud, it was perfectly obvious who I should have been."
Sanya shrugged. "It was no contest. They gave Gandalf to your godmother. You got Sam.
β
β
Jim Butcher (Changes (The Dresden Files, #12))
β
We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.... What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
β
β
Robert F. Kennedy
β
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 one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this world-wide neighborhood into a world β wide brotherhood. Together we must learn to live as brothers or together we will be forced to perish as fools.
We must work passionately and indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress. One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
When the farthest corner of the globe has been conquered
technologically and can be exploited economically; when any incident you like, in any place you like, at any time you like, becomes
accessible as fast as you like; when you can simultaneously "experience" an assassination attempt against a king in France and a symphony concert in Tokyo; when time is nothing but speed, instantaneity, and simultaneity, and time as history has vanished from all
Being of all peoples; when a boxer counts as the great man of a
people; when the tallies of millions at mass meetings are a triumph;
then, yes then, there still looms like a specter over all this uproar the
question: what for? β where to? β and what then?
β
β
Martin Heidegger (Introduction to Metaphysics)
β
But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
Your brother Robb has been crowned King in the North. You and Aemon have that in common. A king for a brother.β said Mormont.
βAnd this too,β said Jon. βA vow.β
The Old Bear gave a loud snort, and the raven took flight, flapping in a circle about the room. βGive me a man for every vow Iβve seen broken and the Wall will never lack for defenders.β
βIβve always known that Rob will be Lord of Winterfell.β
Mormont gave a whistle, and the bird flew to him again and settled on his arm. βA lordβs one thing, a kingβs another. They will garb your brother Robb in silks, satins, and velvets of a hundred different colors, while you live and die in black ringmail. He will wed some beautiful princess and father sons on her. Youβll have no wife, nor will you ever hold a child of your own blood in your arms. Robb will rule, you will serve. Men will call you a crow. Him theyβll call `Your Graceβ. Singers will praise every little thing he does, while your greatest deeds all go unsung. Tell me that none of this troubles you, Jonβ¦ and Iβll name you a liar, and know I have the truth of it.β
Jon drew himself up, taut as a bowstring βAnd if it did trouble me, what might I do, bastard as I am?β
βWhat will you do?β Mormont asked. βBastard as you are.β
βBe troubled,β said Jon, βand keep my vows.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
βYou're Ned Stark's bastard, aren't you?β
Jon felt a coldness pass right through him. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
βDid I offend you?β Lannister said. βSorry. Dwarfs don't have to be tactful. Generations of capering fools in motley have won me the right to dress badly and say any damn thing that comes into my head.β He grinned. βYou are the bastard, though.β
βLord Eddard Stark is my father,β Jon admitted stiffly.
Lannister studied his face. βYes,β he said. βI can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers.β
βHalf brothers,β Jon corrected. He was pleased by the dwarf's comment, but he tried not to let it show.
βLet me give you some counsel, bastard,β Lannister said. βNever forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strenght. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.β
Jon was in no mood for anyone's counsel. βWhat do you know about being a bastard?β
βAll dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes.β
βYou are your mother's trueborn son of Lannister.β
βAm I?β the dwarf replied, sardonic. βDo tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he's never been sure.β
βI don't even know who my mother was,β Jon said.
βSome woman, no doubt. Most of them are.β He favored Jon with a rueful grin. βRemember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs.β And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune. When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.
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George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
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is a broken man an outlaw?"
"More or less." Brienne answered.
Septon Meribald disagreed. "More less than more. There are many sorts of outlaws, just as there are many sorts of birds. A sandpiper and a sea eagle both have wings, but they are not the same. The singers love to sing of good men forced to go outside the law to fight some wicked lord, but most outlaws are more like this ravening Hound than they are the lightning lord. They are evil men, driven by greed, soured by malice, despising the gods and caring only for themselves. Broken men are more deserving of our pity, though they may be just as dangerous. Almost all are common-born, simple folk who had never been more than a mile from the house where they were born until the day some lord came round to take them off to war. Poorly shod and poorly clad, they march away beneath his banners, ofttimes with no better arms than a sickle or a sharpened hoe, or a maul they made themselves by lashing a stone to a stick with strips of hide. Brothers march with brothers, sons with fathers, friends with friends. They've heard the songs and stories, so they go off with eager hearts, dreaming of the wonders they will see, of the wealth and glory they will win. War seems a fine adventure, the greatest most of them will ever know.
"Then they get a taste of battle.
"For some, that one taste is enough to break them. Others go on for years, until they lose count of all the battles they have fought in, but even a man who has survived a hundred fights can break in his hundred-and-first. Brothers watch their brothers die, fathers lose their sons, friends see their friends trying to hold their entrails in after they've been gutted by an axe.
"They see the lord who led them there cut down, and some other lord shouts that they are his now. They take a wound, and when that's still half-healed they take another. There is never enough to eat, their shoes fall to pieces from the marching, their clothes are torn and rotting, and half of them are shitting in their breeches from drinking bad water.
"If they want new boots or a warmer cloak or maybe a rusted iron halfhelm, they need to take them from a corpse, and before long they are stealing from the living too, from the smallfolk whose lands they're fighting in, men very like the men they used to be. They slaughter their sheep and steal their chicken's, and from there it's just a short step to carrying off their daughters too. And one day they look around and realize all their friends and kin are gone, that they are fighting beside strangers beneath a banner that they hardly recognize. They don't know where they are or how to get back home and the lord they're fighting for does not know their names, yet here he comes, shouting for them to form up, to make a line with their spears and scythes and sharpened hoes, to stand their ground. And the knights come down on them, faceless men clad all in steel, and the iron thunder of their charge seems to fill the world...
"And the man breaks.
"He turns and runs, or crawls off afterward over the corpses of the slain, or steals away in the black of night, and he finds someplace to hide. All thought of home is gone by then, and kings and lords and gods mean less to him than a haunch of spoiled meat that will let him live another day, or a skin of bad wine that might drown his fear for a few hours. The broken man lives from day to day, from meal to meal, more beast than man. Lady Brienne is not wrong. In times like these, the traveler must beware of broken men, and fear them...but he should pity them as well
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George R.R. Martin