“But we’ve got to know the simple disciplines of being honest and loving and just with all humanity.”
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Source: Rediscovering Lost Values (1954)
About this quote
In Rediscovering Lost Values (1954), King uses a collective appeal to examine compassion, with attention to mercy, simple, disciplines. The practical center is the relationship between honesty and loving and humanity, giving readers a specific lens for judgment and action.
When to use it
- A community organizer builds a meeting around mercy before participants choose one measurable action related to compassion.
- A teacher pairs the passage from Rediscovering Lost Values (1954) with a primary-source exercise about honesty and public responsibility.
- A team leader uses the tension between simple and humanity to discuss conduct under pressure.

