We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.

The quotation links forgiveness to love, arguing that the ability to forgive is not a sentimental add-on but a core moral capacity without which genuine love cannot endure. It also rejects moral absolutism by insisting on mixed human character—“some good” even in wrongdoers and “some evil” even in the virtuous. In King’s thought, this underwrites nonviolent ethics: one can condemn unjust actions while still affirming the humanity of the person who commits them, leaving room for repentance, reconciliation, and social transformation. The statement thus frames forgiveness as both a personal discipline and a civic necessity for breaking cycles of retaliation.