Paul Tillich

“The passion for truth is silenced by answers which have the weight of undisputed authority.”

“In this respect fundamentalism has demonic traits. It destroys the humble honesty of the search for truth, it splits the conscience of its thoughtful adherents, and it makes them fanatical because they are forced to suppress elements of truth of which they are dimly aware”

“Reason is the presupposition of faith, and faith is the fulfillment of reason.”

“في الحقبة الحديثة انطلق العلم يفجر الطاقات الكامنة في الانسان منذ نهاية العصور الوسطى، لكن العلم انقلب على الانسان لأن الإنسان استغله لاستعباد الانسان.”

“I have given no definition of love. This is impossible, because there is no higher principle by which it could be defined. It is life itself in its actual unity. The forms and structures in which love embodies itself are the forms and structures in which love overcomes its self-destructive forces.”

“...only the philosophical question is perennial, not the answers.”

“The separation of faith and love is always a consequence of a deterioration of religion.”

“...history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines.”

“Paul Tillich - Loneliness & Solitude: "And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain to pray: and when the evening was come, he was alone" - Matthew 14.23. 'He was there alone.' So are we. Man [humankind] is alone because he/[she] is man [human]. In some way every creature is alone...Loneliness can be conqured only by those who can bear solitude (1973:15 & 20).To overcome 'our' sense of aloness is a life long pursuite - let us not despair in its pursuite!”

“We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea.”

“Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity.”

“Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.”

“The vitality that can stand the abyss of meaninglessness is aware of a hidden meaning within the destruction of meaning.”

“Faith as the state of being ultimately concerned implies love, namely, the desire and urge toward the reunion of the seperated.”

“I hope for the day when everyone can speak of God without embarrassment.”

“Sometimes I think it is my mission to bring faith to the faithless, and doubt to the faithful.”

“man is free, in so far as he has the power of contradicting himself and his essential nature. Man is free even from his freedom; that is, he can surrender his humanity”

“Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life." Paul Tillich”

“Man is able to decide for or against reason, he is able to create beyond reason or to destroy below reason”

“[A] process was going on in which people were transformed into things, into pieces of reality which pure science can calculate and technical science can control. … [T]he safety which is guaranteed by well-functioning mechanisms for the technical control of nature, by the refined psychological control of the person, by the rapidly increasing organizational control of society – this safety is bought at a high price: man, for whom all this was invented as a means, becomes a means himself in the service of means.”

“Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”

“Neurosis is the way of avoiding nonbeing by avoiding being”

“Boredom is rage spread thin”

“Astonishment is the root of philosophy.”

“Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.”

“Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.”

“Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human”

“The first duty of love is to listen.”

“Cynically speaking, one could say that it is true to life to be cynical about it. ”

“There is no place to which we could flee from God, which is outside of God.”

“The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.”

“In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character.”