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Prompted by the killing of Osama bin Laden, countless internet folks have cited a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote to express their feelings on the historic event. Unfortunately, that oft-referenced MLK quote is at least partially fake, like a cut-and-paste hodgepodge quote of a made-up sentence mashed together with words from King’s 1963 book Strength to Love.

The quote floating around the internet:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” –MLK, Jr.

The actual quote:

“Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

Update: It looks like even the great professional skeptic Penn Jillette (@pennjillette) reposted the altered quote:

Although it can’t be easily confirmed, a Jessica Dovey (@jmadly) claims that the doctored quote was a mangling of her original post on Facebook. Her post on Twitter:

The post she claims she originally made on Facebook:

Be skeptical!

Via ehaugsjaa.

Real quotes.