If a life is to be complete we must not stop with this dimension [length]. There are some people who never get beyond this first dimension of life. I’m sure you have seen such people. These people are only concerned about themselves. They seek to achieve their ambitions at any cost. They brilliantly develop their inner powers, but they live as if nobody else lives in the world but themselves. Other persons become mere steps by which they climb to their personal ambitions. There is nothing more tragic than to see a person bogged down in the length of life devoid of breadth.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon (1954-01-24), “The Dimensions of a Complete Life,” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama
(Source)
The italicized text at the end is from a different draft.
This was one of King's favorite sermons, possibly originating in 1952, and he reworked and delivered it (or reprinted it) throughout his life. Other versions:But don't stop here; it is dangerous to stop here. There are some people who never get beyond this first dimension. They are brilliant people; often they do an excellent job in developing their inner powers; but they live as if nobody else lived in the world but themselves. There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of the breadth.
[Sermon (1959), "Dimensions of a Complete Life," The Measure of a Man]But don’t stop here. It’s dangerous to stop with the length of life. And some people never get beyond this first dimension; they live life as if nobody else lived in the world but themselves. And other people become mere steps by which they climb to their personal ends and ambitions. And if they manage to get around to loving, it becomes a utilitarian love; they love only those people that they can use. My friends, I say to you this morning that there is nothing more tragic than to see an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of the breadth. And so we must add breadth to length.
[Sermon (1960-02-28), "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," Friendship Baptist Church, Pasadena, California]We must not stop here. It’s dangerous to stop with the length of life. Some people never get beyond this first dimension of life, they’re often brilliant people. They develop their inner powers. They do extraordinarily well in their fields of endeavor. They live life as if nobody else lived in the world but themselves. Other people become mere means by which they climb to their personal ends or their personal ambitions. Their love is only a utilitarian love. There is nothing more tragic in life to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of the breadth.
[Sermon (1960-12-11), "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," Unitarian Church, Germantown, Pennsylvania]Some people never get beyond this first dimension. They may be brilliant people who superbly develop their inner powers, but they are shackled by the chains of a paralyzing self-centeredness. They live within the narrow confines of their personal ambitions and desires. What is more tragic than to find an individual who is bogged down in the length of life devoid of breadth?
[Sermon (1963), "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," "2. Breadth," Strength to Love, ch. 9]Now, don't stop here, though. You know a lot of people get no further in life than the length. They develop their powers, they do their jobs well. But you know. they try to live as if nobody else lives in the world but themselves, and they use everybody as mere tools to get to where they're going. They don't love anybody but themselves, and the only kind of love they really have for other people is utilitarian love, you know, they just love people that they can use. A lot of people never get beyond the first dimension of life. They use other people as mere steps to which or by which they can climb to their goals and their ambitions. These people don't work out well in life.
[Sermon (1967-04-09), "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago (audio)]
Quotations about:
solipsism
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Few people can say of themselves that they are free of the belief that this world which they see around them is in reality the work of their own imagination. Are we pleased with it, proud of it, then?
Isak Dinesen (1885–1962) Danish writer [pseud. of Karen Christence, Countess Blixen]
“The Deluge at Norderney,” Seven Gothic Tales [Kasparson] (1934)
(Source)
We are all captives of the picture in our head — our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American journalist and author
(Attributed)
The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it. Each of us is a center of the Universe, and that Universe is shattered when they hiss at you “You are under arrest.” If you are arrested, can anything else remain unshattered by this cataclysm? But the darkened mind is incapable of embracing these displacements in our universe, and both the most sophisticated and the veriest simpleton among us, drawing on all life’s experience, can gasp out only: “Me? What for?”
Alexander Solzhenitsen (1918–2008) Russian novelist, emigre [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn]
The Gulag Archipelago, Vol. 1, Part 1, ch. 1 (1973) [tr. Whitney]
(Source)
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 2, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 19 (1980)
(Source)
The bonds that unite another person to ourself exist only in our mind. Memory as it grows fainter relaxes them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we would fain be cheated and with which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we cheat other people and we exist alone. Man is the only creature that cannot emerge from himself, that knows his fellows only in himself; when he asserts the contrary he is lying.
Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French author
Remembrance of Things Past “The Sweet Cheat Gone” (1913-27)
