Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from … [ Read more ]
Author: Reinhold Niebuhr | Subject: Personal Improvement
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Author: Reinhold Niebuhr | Source: from The Serenity Prayer | Subjects: Religion, Wisdom
Our idealists are divided between those who would renounce the responsibilities of power for the sake of preserving the purity of our soul and those who are ready to cover every ambiguity of good and evil in our actions by the frantic insistence that any measure taken in a good cause must be unequivocally virtuous.
Author: Reinhold Niebuhr | Subjects: Perception | Observation, Psychology | Behavior
Man’s capacity for evil makes democracy necessary and man’s capacity for good makes democracy possible.
Author: Reinhold Niebuhr | Subjects: Perception | Observation, Politics & Public Policy