It is the evil in man that makes democracy necessary, and man’s belief in justice that makes democracy possible.
REINHOLD NIEBUHRThe old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.
More Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes
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I think I have one answer, that is partly religious and partly secular; and that is to say, we ought to at least recognize that we and the Russians are in a common predicament. That would be religious in the sense, “Judge not lest you be judged.”
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In the Old Testament, the God of the Prophets never was completely on Israel’s side. There was a primitive national religion, but it was always a transcendent God who had judgment first in the House of God.
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Cheese, wine, and a friend must be old to be good.
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Self-righteousness is the inevitable fruit of simple moral judgments.
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The fanatic is dangerous.
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To the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in an effort to prove they are indestructible.
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We Protestants ought to humbly confess that the theater and the sports have done more for race amity, for race understanding than, on the whole, the Protestant Church in certain type, in certain parts of the nation.
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There was a time when I had all the answers. My real growth began when I discovered that the questions to which I had the answers were not the important questions.
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Our dreams of bringing the whole of human history under the control of the human will are ironically refuted by the fact that no group of idealists can easily move the pattern of history toward the desired goal of peace and justice.
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Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.
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We ought to really at least recognize the common predicament of Communists and democrats – or Americans, whatever.
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The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.
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Every experience proves that the real problem of our existence lies in the fact that we ought to love one another, but do not.
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A genuine faith resolves the mystery of life by the mystery of God.
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In the 17th and 18th centuries there was a kind of Protestantism that said, “If you could only get rid of the Bishop, then you’d be a true Christian”.
REINHOLD NIEBUHR