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Capitalism Started Out With A Noble And High Motive, But Like Most Human Systems It Fell Victim To The Very Thing It Was Revolting Against.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Capitalism Started Out With

Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Capitalism Started Out With A Noble And High Motive, But Like Most Human Systems It Fell Victim To The Very Thing It Was Revolting Against.

Understanding the Quote: "capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most..."

This quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. reflects deeply on the theme of noble. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Noble, Victim, Motive, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Martin Luther King, Jr. interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated for insightful thoughts on noble and victim. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Noble
Victim
Motive
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Hate
Reality
Somebody Must Have Sense Enough To Meet Hate With Love. Somebody Must Have Sense Enough To Meet Physical Force With Soul Force. If We Will But Try This Way, We Will Be Able To Change These Conditions And Yet At The Same Time Win The Hearts And Souls Of Those Who Have Kept These Conditions Alive A Way As Old As The Insights Of Jesus Of Nazareth, As Modern As The Techniques Of Mohandas K. Gandhi. There Is Another Way.
Jesus
Hate
Heart
We Must Learn That To Expect God To Do Everything While We Do Nothing Is Not Faith But Superstition.
Superstitions
Somehow This Madness Must Cease. We Must Stop Now. I Speak As A Child Of God And Brother To The Suffering Poor Of Vietnam. I Speak For Those Whose Land Is Being Laid Waste, Whose Homes Are Being Destroyed, Whose Culture Is Being Subverted. I Speak For The Poor In America Who Are Paying The Double Price Of Smashed Hopes At Home And Death And Corruption In Vietnam. I Speak As A Citizen Of The World, For The World As It Stands Aghast At The Path We Have Taken. I Speak As An American To The Leaders Of My Own Nation. The Great Initiative In This War Is Ours. The Initiative To Stop It Must Be Ours.
Brother
Children
War
Unity Has Never Meant Uniformity.
Unity
Uniformity
Vanity Asks, Is It Popular? Politics Ask, Will It Work? But Conscience And Morality Ask, Is It Right?
Vanity
Morality
Asks
Truth Is Not To Be Found Either In Traditional Capitalism Or In Marxism. Each Represents A Partial Truth. Historically, Capitalism Failed To Discern The Truth In Collective Enterprise And Marxism Failed To See The Truth In Individual Enterprise.
Political
Truth Is
Individual
In This World Is A God Whose Matchless Strength Is A Fit Contrast To The Sordid Weakness Of Man.
Christian
Men
Weakness
The Soft-minded Man Always Fears Change. He Feels Security In The Status Quo, And He Has An Almost Morbid Fear Of The New. For Him, The Greatest Pain Is The Pain Of A New Idea.
Change
Pain
Fear
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. We Are Presently Moving Down A Dead-end Road That Can Lead To National Disaster. America Has Strayed To The Far Country Of Racism And Militarism.
Country
Disappointment
Moving
Courage Is The Power Of The Mind To Overcome Fear.
Courage
Fear
Mind
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 – My Own Government.
Government
Voice
Violence
Our Lives Are Not Fully Lived If We're Not Willing To Die For Those We Love, For What We Believe.
Believe
Willing
Those We Love
Returning Hate, Adding Deeper Darkness To A Night That Is Already Void Of Stars. Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness: Only Light Can Do That. Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate: Only Love Can Do That.
Stars
Hate
Loss
The Arc Of The Moral Universe Is Long But It Bends Toward Justice.
Long
Justice
Arcs
The Movement For Equality And Justice Can Only Be A Success If It Has Both A Mass And Militant Character; The Barriers To Be Overcome Require Both.
Inspirational
Character
Justice
Before It Is Too Late, We Must Narrow The Gaping Chasm Between Our Proclomations Of Peace And Our Lowly Deeds Which Precipitate And Perpetuate War.
War
Too Late
Deeds
With All Of Its False Assumptions And Evil Methods, Communism Grew As A Protest Against The Hardships Of The Underprivileged. Communism In Theory Emphasized A Classless Society, And A Concern For Social Justice, Though The World Knows From Sad Experience That In Practice It Created New Classes And A New Lexicon Of Injustice.
Wisdom
Practice
Class
Normal Fear Protects Us; Abnormal Fear Paralyses Us. Normal Fear Motivates Us To Improve Our Individual And Collective Welfare; Abnormal Fear Constantly Poisons And Distorts Our Inner Lives. Our Problem Is Not To Be Rid Of Fear But, Rather To Harness And Master It.
Poison
Abnormal
Problem
How Hard It Is For People To Live Without Someone To Look Down Upon-really To Look Down Upon. It Is Not Just That They Feel Cheated Out Of Someone To Hate. It Is That They Are Compelled To Look More Closely Into Themselves And What They Don't Like About Themselves.
Hate
People
Looks
We Must Pursue Peaceful End Through Peaceful Means.
War
Mean
Peaceful
Human Progress Never Rolls In On The Wheels Of Inevitability; It Comes Through The Tireless Efforts And The Persistent Work Of Dedicated Individuals Who Are Willing To Be Co-workers With God And Without This Hard Work Time Itself Becomes An Ally Of The Primitive Forces Of Social Stagnation.
People
Effort
Progress
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 ‘too Late’.
Procrastination
Civilization
Thieves
The Negro Needs The White Man To Free Him From His Fears. The White Man Needs The Negro To Free Him From His Guilt.
Inspirational
Freedom
Fear
I" Cannot Reach Fulfillment Without "thou." The Self Cannot Be Self Without Other Selves. Self-concern Without Other-concern Is Like A Tributary That Has No Outward Flow To The Ocean.
Ocean
Self
Flow
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.
Life
Courage
Time
The Holy Passion Of Friendship Is Of So Sweet And Steady And Loyal And Enduring A Nature That It Will Last Through A Whole Lifetime, If Not Asked To Lend Money In The End, We Will Remember Not The Words Of Our Enemies, But The Silence Of Our Friends
Sweet
Passion
Silence
History Is A Great Teacher. Now Everyone Knows That The Labor Movement Did Not Diminish The Strength Of The Nation But Enlarged It. By Raising The Living Standards Of Millions, Labor Miraculously Created A Market For Industry And Lifted The Whole Nation To Undreamed Of Levels Of Production. Those Who Attack Labor Forget These Simple Truths, But History Remembers Them.
Teacher
Simple
Labour Movement
Hatred Darkens Life; Love Illumines It.
Life
Love Life
Hatred
So I Have Tried To Make It Clear That It Is Wrong To Use Immoral Means To Attain Moral Ends. But Now I Must Affirm That It Is Just As Wrong, Or Even More So, To Use Moral Means To Preserve Immoral Ends.
Mean
Use
Moral
There Comes A Time When A Moral Man Can't Obey A Law Which His Conscience Tells Him Is Unjust.
Men
Law
Libertarian Party
My Parents Would Always Tell Me That I Should Not Hate The White Man, But That It Was My Duty As A Christian To Love Him.
Love
Christian
Hate
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 Postive Action.
Motivational
Today
Complacency
I Am Convinced That Love Is The Most Durable Power In The World. It Is Not An Expression Of Impractical Idealism, But Of Practical Realism.
Love Is
Expression
World
I Have Consistently Preached That Nonviolence Demands That The Means We Use Must Be As Pure As The Ends We Seek.
Mean
Jail
Use
When Any Society Says That I Cannot Marry A Certain Person, That Society Has Cut Off A Segment Of My Freedom.
Cutting
Certain
Persons
Those Of Us Who Love Peace Must Organize As Effectively As The War Hawks. As They Spread The Propaganda Of War, We Must Spread The Propaganda Of Peace.
War
Hawks
Propaganda
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.
Animal
Soul
One Day
You Have Very Little Morally Persuasive Power With People Who Can Feel Your Underlying Contempt.
Inspirational
People
Disrespect
I Know That Love Is Ultimately The Only Answer To Mankind's Problems. And I'm Going To Talk About It Everywhere I Go. I Know It Isn't Popular To Talk About It In Some Circles Today. I'm Not Talking About Emotional Bosh When I Talk About Love, I'm Talking About A Strong, Demanding Love.
Strength
Strong
Love Is
I Think That My Strong Determination For Justice Comes From The Very Strong, Dynamic Personality Of My Father ... I Have Rarely Ever Met A Person More Fearless And Courageous Than My Father ... The Thing That I Admire Most About My Dad Is His Genuine Christian Character. He Is A Man Of Real Integrity, Deeply Committed To Moral And Ethical Principles. He Is Conscientious In All Of His Undertakings ... If I Had A Problem I Could Always Call Daddy.
Christian
Fathers Day
Strong
Agape Is Something Of The Understanding, Creative, Redemptive Goodwill For All Men. It Is A Love That Seeks Nothing In Return. It Is An Overflowing Love; It's What Theologians Would Call The Love Of God Working In The Lives Of Men. And When You Rise To Love On This Level, You Begin To Love Men, Not Because They Are Likeable, But Because God Loves Them.
Life
Men
Creative
I Have A Dream That One Day Little Black Boys And Girls Will Be Holding Hands With Little White Boys And Girls.
Girl
Dream
Boys
We Must Move Past Indecision To Action. We Must Find New Ways To Speak For Peace In Vietnam And For Justice Throughout The Developing World, A World That Borders On Our Doors. If We Do Not Act, We Shall Surely Be Dragged Down The Long, Dark, And Shameful Corridors Of Time Reserved For Those Who Possess Power Without Compassion, Might Without Morality, And Strength Without Sight.
Peace
War
Moving
Let Us Not Wallow In The Valley Of Despair.
Despair
Valleys
I Have A Dream Speech
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.
Life
Greatness
Diversity
We've Been In The Mountain Of War. We've Been In The Mountain Of Violence. We've Been In The Mountain Of Hatred Long Enough. It Is Necessary To Move On Now, But Only By Moving Out Of This Mountain Can We Move To The Promised Land Of Justice And Brotherhood And The Kingdom Of God. It All Boils Down To The Fact That We Must Never Allow Ourselves To Become Satisfied With Unattained Goals. We Must Always Maintain A Kind Of Divine Discontent.
War
Moving
Land
Now Let Us Begin. Now Let Us Rededicate Ourselves To The Long And Bitter - But Beautiful - Struggle For A New World.
Beautiful
Struggle
Long
Hate Is Just As Injurious To The Hater As It Is To The Hated. Like An Unchecked Cancer, Hate Corrodes The Personality And Eats Away Its Vital Unity. Many Of Our Inner Conflicts Are Rooted In Hate. This Is Why The Psychiatrists Say, "love Or Perish." Hate Is Too Great A Burden To Bear.
Hate
Cancer
Personality
Now Is The Time To Make Real The Promises Of Democracy. Now Is The Time To Rise From The Dark And Desolate Valley Of Segregation To The Sunlit Path Of Racial Justice. Now Is The Time To Lift Our Nation From The Quicksands Of Racial Injustice To The Solid Rock Of Brotherhood. Now Is The Time To Make Justice A Reality For All Of God’s Children.
Children
Real
Dark
Without Justice, There Can Be No Peace.
Justice
Civil Rights
Is Your Heart Right? If Your Heart Isn't Right, Fix It Up Today.
Heart
Today
Ifs
I May Not Get There With You, But I Believe That We As A People Will Someday Reach The Promised Land.
Believe
Land
People
Will We Be Extremists For Hate, Or Will We Be Extremists For Love? Will We Be Extremists For The Preservation Of Injustice, Or Will We Be Extremists For The Cause Of Justice?
Inspirational
Hate
Justice
[nonviolence] Seeks To Secure Moral Ends Through Moral Means.
Mean
Morality
Ends
All Life Is Interrelated. The Agony Of The Poor Impoverishes The Rich; The Betterment Of The Poor Enriches The Rich. We Are Inevitably Our Brother's Keeper Because We Are Our Brother's Brother. Whatever Affects One Directly Affects All Indirectly.
Brother
Agony
Justice
If You Can’t Run, Walk; If You Can’t Walk, Crawl, But Keep Moving Forward!
Perseverance
Determination
Kings
The Early Christians Rejoiced When They Were Deemed Worthy To Suffer For What They Believed. In Those Days The Church Was Not Merely A Thermometer That Recorded The Ideas And Principles O Popular Opinion; It Was A Thermostat That Transformed The Mores Of Society.
Christian
Ideas
Suffering
It All Boils Down To This: That All Life Is Interrelated.
Life Is
[i]t Must Be Emphasized That Nonviolent Resistance Is Not A Method For Cowards; It Does Resist. If One Uses This Method Because He Is Afraid Or Merely Because He Lacks The Instruments Of Violence, He Is Not Truly Nonviolent. This Is Why Gandhi Often Said That If Cowardice Is The Only Alternative To Violence, It Is Better To Fight.
Fighting
Coward
Doe
Life Isn't Worth Living Until You Have Found Something Worth Dying For.
Inspirational
Dying
Found
O America, How You've Taken Necessities From The Masses To Give Luxuries To The Classes.
Taken
Class
Luxury
A Second Thing That An Individual Must Do In Seeking To Love His Enemy Is To Discover The Element Of Good In His Enemy, And Everytime You Begin To Hate That Person And Think Of Hating That Person, Realize That There Is Some Good There And Look At Those Good Points Which Will Over-balance The Bad Points.
Hate
Thinking
Enemy
Babies, We Are Told, Are The Latest News From Heaven.
Baby
Heaven
News
Communism Forgets That Life Is Individual. Capitalism Forgets That Life Is Social, And The Kingdom Of Brotherhood Is Found Neither In The Thesis Of Communism Nor The Antithesis Of Capitalism But In A Higher Synthesis. It Is Found In A Higher Synthesis That Combines The Truths Of Both.
Life
War
Communication
It Is Obvious Today That America Has Defaulted On This Promissory Note Insofar As Her Citizens Of Color Are Concerned. Instead Of Honoring This Sacred Obligation, America Has Given The Negro People A Bad Check, A Check Which Has Come Back Marked 'insufficient Funds.'
Color
America
People
The Intellectual And Moral Satisfaction That I Failed To Gain From The Utilitarianism Of Bentham And Mill, The Revolutionary Methods Of Marx And Lenin, The Social Contract Theory Of Hobbes, The "back To Nature" Optimism Of Rousseau, And The Superman Philosophy Of Nietzsche, I Found In The Nonviolent Resistance Philosophy Of Gandhi. I Came To Feel That This Was The Only Morally And Practically Sound Method Open To Oppressed People In Their Struggle For Freedom.
Philosophy
Struggle
People
Violence Multiplies Violence.
Violence
There Is Something Wrong With Our World, Something Fundamentally And Basically Wrong.
Our World
World
The Major Problem Of Life Is Learning How To Handle The Costly Interruptions.
Problem
Life Is
Interruptions
Let Us Be Practical And Ask The Question: How Do We Love Our Enemies?
Enemy
Love Your Enemies
Practicals
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