"Sometimes, you know, it's necessary to go backward in order to go forward. That's an analogy of life. I remember the other day I was driving out of New York City into Boston, and I stopped off in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to visit some friends. And I went out of New York on a highway that's known as the Merritt Parkway, it leads into Boston, a very fine parkway. And I stopped in Bridgeport, and after being there for two or three hours I decided to go on to Boston, and I wanted to get back on the Merritt Parkway. And I went out thinking that I was going toward the Merritt Parkway. I started out, and I rode, and I kept riding, and I looked up and I saw a sign saying two miles to a little town that I knew I was to bypass — I wasn't to pass through that particular town. So I thought I was on the wrong road. I stopped and I asked a gentleman on the road which way would I get to the Merritt Parkway. And he said, "The Merritt Parkway is about twelve or fifteen miles back that way. You've got to turn around and go back to the Merritt Parkway; you are out of the way now." In other words, before I could go forward to Boston, I had to go back about twelve or fifteen miles to get to the Merritt Parkway. May it not be that modern man has gotten on the wrong parkway? And if he is to go forward to the city of salvation, he's got to go back and get on the right parkway. [...] Now that's what we've got to do in our world today. We've left a lot of precious values behind; we've lost a lot of precious values. And if we are to go forward, if we are to make this a better world in which to live, we've got to go back. We've got to rediscover these precious values that we've left behind."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesSpiritual teachersCivil rights activistsAnti-apartheid activistsAnti-racism activists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Martin Luther King Jr.
pastor, preacher, civil rights advocate
1929 – 1968 · United States
523 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. →
Related Quotes
"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritua…"
"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a desc…"
"We must set out to do a good job irrespective of race. We must seek to do our life's work so well that nobody could d…"
"The meaning of this story is not found in the drowning of the Egyptian soldiers, for no one should rejoice at the dea…"
"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumina…"
"There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men o…"
"One of the sure signs of maturity is the ability to rise to the point of self criticism."
"Doors are opening now that were not open in the past, and the great challenge facing minority groups is to be ready t…"
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at ti…"
"The third way open to oppressed people in their quest for freedom is the way of nonviolent resistance. Like the synth…"