Quotes by Reinhold Niebuhr

“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.”

“Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure. ”

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism. ”

“The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. ”

“Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.”

“Democracies are indeed slow to make war, but once embarked upon a martial venture are equally slow to make peace and reluctant to make a tolerable, rather than a vindictive, peace. ”

“Rationality belongs to the cool observer, but because of the stupidity of the average man, he follows not reason, but faith, and the naive faith requires necessary illusion and emotionally potent o...”

“Religion, declares the modern man, is consciousness of our highest social values. Nothing could be further from the truth. True religion is a profound uneasiness about our highest social values.”

“Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.”

“I wonder if anyone who needs a snappy song service can really appreciate the meaning of the cross.”

“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”

“Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

“Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.”

“Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith.”

“Humor is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer.”

“It is my strong conviction that a realist conception of human nature should be made a servant of an ethic of progressive justice and should not be made into a bastion of conservatism, particularly ...”

“The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.”

“Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another.”

“Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice.”

“Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history therefore we must be saved by faith.”