black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

If you believe, take the first step, it leads to Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe, take the first step all the same, for you are bidden to take it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is worse for a liar to tell the truth than for a lover of truth to lie.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Lie Love Truth Worst
It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Deep Himself Religious
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Learning Light People Suffering
Sanctification means that the Christians have been judged already, and that they are being preserved until the coming of Christ and are ever advancing towards it.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Judgement Religious
There can be no real attachment to the given creation, no genuine responsibility in the world, unless we recognize the breach which already separates us from it.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Attachment Creation Reality Responsibility World
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Action Responsibility
Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Compassionate Path Sin
We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Forget Gift Ordinary Prayer Thankful
Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Carry People Respect Satisfaction Wait
God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Emotional God Truth
Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Discipline God Man
Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Alone Himself Religion Worth
The world exercises dominion by force and Christ and Christians conquer by service.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Force Religious World
Through our daily meals He is calling us to rejoice, to keep holiday in the midst of our working day.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Food Himself Ourselves
Nothing can be known either of God or man until God has become man in Jesus Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Man Religious
Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of Him on whom their life depends.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Creation Gift God Growth Himself Miracle Power Result Tree Willing
We are torn out of our own existence and set down in the midst of the holy history of God on earth. There God dealt with us, and there he still deals with us, our needs and our sins, in judgment and grace.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence God History Judgement Need Sin
The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Beginning End Happiness Life Ourselves Religious Unity
Being free means being free for the other, because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Freedom Himself Myself Relationship
Neighbourliness is not a quality in other people, it is simply their claim on ourselves.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Ourselves People Quality Simplicity
We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Death Simplicity Wound
My past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy, and, above all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Forgiveness God Love Myself Past Religious Sin
The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Divine Job
Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence Himself Justice Myself Peace Worth
The wars of Israel were the only ‘holy wars’ in history, there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Enemy Faith History Love Ourselves War
Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Human Tears Word
The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Creation Destroy Dream Love Person

If you believe, take the first step, it leads to Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe, take the first step all the same, for you are bidden to take it.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

If you believe, take the first step, it leads to Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe, take the first step all the same, for you are bidden to take it.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes