Quotes about Compassion
The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer it; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus' hands.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
But I'm afraid I'm bad at comforting; I can listen all right, but I can hardly ever find anything to say.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Nothing can be more cruel than that leniency which abandons others to their sin.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother and sister when we learn to listen to them.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The church is church only when it is there for others.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ's sake.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Where is love more glorified than where she dwells in the midst of her enemies?
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer