“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.”
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Source: Loving Your Enemies (1957)
About this quote
In Loving Your Enemies (1957), King uses a direct appeal to responsibility to examine love, with attention to another, enemy, opportunity. The practical center is the relationship between self awareness and presents and defeat, giving readers a specific lens for judgment and action.
When to use it
- A community organizer builds a meeting around another before participants choose one measurable action related to love.
- A teacher pairs the passage from Loving Your Enemies (1957) with a primary-source exercise about self awareness and public responsibility.
- A team leader uses the tension between enemy and defeat to discuss conduct under pressure.