Quotes from Reinhold Niebuhr

The society in which each man lives is at once the basis for, and the nemesis of, that fulness of life which each man seeks.

It's always wise to seek the truth in our opponents' error, and the error in our own truth.

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

Forgiveness is the final form of love.

Faith is the final triumph over incongruity the final assertion of the meaningfulness of existence.

When economic power desires to be left alone it uses the philosophy of laissez faire to discourage political restraint upon economic freedom. When it wants to make use of the police power of the state to subdue rebellions and discontent in the ranks of its helots, it justifies the use of political coercion and the resulting suppression of liberties by insisting that peace is more precious than freedom and that its only desire is social peace.

Reason is not the sole basis of moral virtue in man. His social impulses are more deeply rooted than his rational life.

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.

I'm not afraid of too many things, and I got that invincible kind of attitude from my father.

The Jews were the money-lenders of the Middle Ages so there's a stereotype of the slightly or more than slightly dishonest business man and this stereotype covers and obscures all the facts.

Love is the energizing elixir of the universe, the cause and effect of all harmonies.

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