Hope Quotes
The phrase “city upon a hill” was first used by John Winthrop in 1630 which is probably taken from Matt. 5:14-16 “a city that is set on a hill.” See related quote. It was then used in a speech by President Kennedy with attribution to Winthrop. President Reagan used it without the attribution and embellished it by adding the adjective “shining” which many people thought was in the original Puritan statement. The Reagan video and audio clip has been so viewed so many times that people think the phrase originated with Reagan.
King was speaking from a carefully prepared text which did not include the “I have a dream” passage. Jackson, sitting behind the speakers podium, in a loud stage whisper during a pause in King’s speech. King thought for a second or so, pushed is prepared speech aside, gripped both sides of the podium, and launched into what is now considered the iconic phrase of the March on Washington if not the entire civil rights movement, stimulated by the urging of the great singer.
This was one of Robert Kennedy’s favorite quotes. Though his version is unique, the original idea comes from the book, Back to Methuselah. See George Bernard Shaw. {642128} The great American Scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, had expressed a variant of the idea in {639985} .
He also repeated this quotation in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in 1951.
There are some who question the authenticity of this Steinbeck quotation on the grounds that all the references to it seem to be secondary sources. However, we lean toward its authenticity.
Although this is one of Marx’s more famous quotations, he had Napoleon Bonaparte {39959} to thank for the concept of the use of religion as a political tool. A Napoleon contemporary Chartist, Charles Kingsley, {441604} in 1848 also made the analogy between religion and opium for political control.
