The measure of our rationality determines the degree of vividness with which we appreciate the needs of other life, the extent to which we become conscious of the real character of our own motives and impulses.
REINHOLD NIEBUHRThe essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his essence. It can only be understood as a self-contradiction, made possible by the fact of his freedom but not following necessarily from it.
More Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes
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Cheese, wine, and a friend must be old to be good.
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Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
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The significance of the law of love is precisely that it is not just another law, but a law which transcends all law.
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It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism.
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Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.
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Marxism is the modern form of Jewish prophecy.
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All known existence points beyond itself.
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It’s always wise to seek the truth in our opponents’ error, and the error in our own truth.
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The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.
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It is the evil in man that makes democracy necessary, and man’s belief in justice that makes democracy possible.
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Justice requires that we carefully weigh rights and privileges and assure that each member of a community receives his due share. Love does not weigh rights and privileges too carefully because it prompts each to bear the burden of the other.
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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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We take, and must continue to take, morally hazardous actions to preserve our civilization.
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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.
REINHOLD NIEBUHR