Political Quotes

“during a too short ministry among us of Martin Luther King, Jr., he spoke very eloquently, with great insight and I believe with profound wisdom, on many aspects of American life. He taught us about the promise of equality and about the meaning of community and about the greatness of our human potential. But of all the many things that Dr. King taught us--and we just memorialized his birthday the beginning of this week--of all the things he taught us, one in particular has held much meaning for me, particularly in recent months. And that is the standard he set for human behavior and the qualities he identified as being the true measure of humanity. Dr. King challenged us, in his words, to ``rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.'' He reminded us that one of the true standards of success is ``the quality of our service and relationship to humanity,'' not, as he put it, ``the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles.'' Dr. King's standard for humankind, set by him, was a very high one. To take responsibility not only for ourselves but for others as well, to take our guide--more as our guide a moral and rich vision of ourselves and the community of man. In this way he challenged us to become the guardians of our most precious American legacy, and that is the promise that each of us deserves: an opportunity to fulfill our potential, whatever that potential may be.”