Niebuhr Quotes

“...'fundamentalism' and 'liberalism' and terrorism.' These labels only tell us partial truths. We must use them humbly, guardedly, Niebuhr would say, aware of the limitations of our own vision and of our own capacity for misunderstanding and self-deception.”

“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 a conservatism which defends unjust privileges.”

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

“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.”

“The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.”

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

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

“Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it.”

“If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.”

“I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth.”