An uneven metal balance holds several weights on one pan and a single weight on the other above a granite base.

Original artwork, not a still

Strength to Love  ·  1963

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker warns that our tools, methods and capabilities have advanced beyond the goals they are supposed to serve. Technical power has grown faster than clarity about purpose. The line is a criticism of a society that is better at how to live than at deciding what living is for.

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