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44 quotes
German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident
“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace.”
"The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them."
on Faith
"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."
"Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued."
"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."
on Philosophy
"We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer."
on Compassion
"The figure of the crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard."
on Success
"Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety."
on Anxiety
"Not in the flight of ideas, but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of the living."
on Freedom
"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."
on Wisdom
"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."
on Social Justice
"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"
"The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ."
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
"Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God."
"It is not your love that sustains the marriage,but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love."
on Love
"By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are."
on Self Awareness
"One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons."
"Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him whether the heart is full or empty."
"Time is lost when we have not lived a full human life time unenriched by experience creative endeavor enjoyment and suffering."
on Life
"May we be enabled to say "No" to sin and "Yes" to the sinner."
