Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes


If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Board 177
The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society 158
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Responsibility 109
When all is said and done the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Sin 98
The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Optimism 96
The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society 96
A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol. Dietrich Bonhoeffer God 92
It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Nature 89
The task is not to turn the world upside down but in a given place to do what from the perspecive of reality is necessary objectively and to really carry it out. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Action 88
As Christ bore and received us as sinners so we in his fellowship may bear and receive sinners into the fellowship of Christ through the forgiving of sins. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Christ 85
It is the fellowship of the Cross to experience the burden of the other. If one does not experience it, the fellowship he belongs to is not Christian. If any member refuses to bear that burden, he denies the law of Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Christianity 84
It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Decisions 80
Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Obedience 79
The will of God to which the law gives expression is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Will 78
The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but on the contrary its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Ethics 74
Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Christian 72
Politics are not the task of a Christian. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Politics 53
One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Religion 53
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Silence 50
A prison cell in which one waits hopes and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside is not a bad picture of Advent Dietrich Bonhoeffer Christmas 49
Any honours that come our way are only stolen from him to whom alone they really belong the Lord who sent us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Respect 46
Desires to which we cling closely can easily prevent us from being what we ought to be and can be and on the other hand desires repeatedly mastered for the sake of present duty make us richer.Lack of desire is poverty. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Desire 45
By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Grace 45
The way to misuse our possessions is to use them as an insurance against the morrow. Anxiety is always directed to the morrow whereas goods are in the strictest sense meant to be used only for today. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Worry 44
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 Dietrich Bonhoeffer Temptation 42
Music... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities and in time of care and sorrow will keep a fountain of joy alive in you. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Joy 38
Nothing that we despise in other men is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or dont do and more in light of what they suffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Hypocrisy 38
A love that left people alone in their guilt would not have real people as its object. So in vicarious responsibility for people and in His love for real human beings Jesus becomes the one burdened by guilt. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Guilt 37
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 Evil 37
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. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Justice 35
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gratitude 35
Political action means taking on responsibility. This cannot happen without power. Power is to serve responsibility. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Power 34
In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gratitude 33
Every wedding must be an occasion of joy that human beings can do such great things that they have been given such immense freedom and power to take the helm in their lifes journey Dietrich Bonhoeffer Marriage 31
The child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus the essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration but definite concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Prayer 30
But the Christian also knows that he not only cannot and dare not be anxious but that there is no need for him to be so. Neither anxiety now work can secure his daily bread for bread is the gift of the Father. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Anxiety 29
The Church is the Church only when it exists for others...not dominating but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ to exist for others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church 29
While it is good that we seek to know the Holy One it is probably not so good to presume that we ever complete the task. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Humility 28
It is not your love that sustains the marriage but from now on the marriage that sustains your love. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Marriage 28
Advent creates people new people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Christmas 28
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. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Empathy 27
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. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Grace 26
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Theology 22

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