Always it is easier to pay homage to prophets
than to heed the direction of their vision.

It is easier blindly to venerate the saints
than to learn that human quality of their sainthood.

It is easier to glorify the heroes of the race
than to give weight to their examples.

To worship the wise is much easier
than to profit by their wisdom.

Great leaders are honored, not by adulation,
but by sharing their insights and values.

Grandchildren of those who stoned the prophet sometimes
gather up the stones to build the prophet’s monument.

– Clinton Lee Scott

[Read more about Martin Luther King Jr. in "Substance and Expression."]