For Times Such as These
“One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites—polar opposites—so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love.
“It was this misinterpretation that caused Nietzsche, who was a philosopher of the will to power, to reject the Christian concept of love. It was this same misinterpretation which induced Christian theologians to reject Nietzschean philosophy of the will to power in the name of the Christian idea of love. Now, we’ve got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that 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. And this is what we must see as we move on.”
“It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go from Here?” I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World, ed. James M. Washington (HarperSanFrancisco, 1986, 1992), 172-173.