Reinhold Niebuhr

“Self-righteousness is the inevitable fruit of simple moral judgments.”

“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful 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.”

“Humor is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer.”

“Religion, declares the modern man, is consciousness of our highest social values. Nothing could be further from the truth. True religion is a profound uneasiness about our highest social values.”

“We have, on the whole, more liberty and less equality than Russia has. Russia has less liberty and more equality. Whether democracy should be defined primarily in terms of liberty or equality is a source of unending debate.”

“Even as rigorous a determinist as Karl Marx, who at times described the social behaviour of the bourgeoisie in terms which suggested a problem in social physics, could subject it at other times to a withering scorn which only the presupposition of moral responsibility could justify.”

“Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.”

“Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.”

“It is my strong conviction that a realist conception of human nature should be made a servant of an ethic of progressive justice and should not be made into a bastion of conservatism, particularly a conservatism which defends unjust privileges.”

“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”

“Change what cannot be accepted and accept what cannot be changed.”

“...until the fear of catastrophe amends, or catastrophe itself destroys...”

“For man as an historical creature has desires of indeterminate dimensions.”

“One of the most pathetic aspects of human history is that every civilization expresses itself most pretentiously, compounds its partial and universal values most convincingly, and claims immortality for its finite existence at the very moment when the decay which leads to death has already begun.”

“Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,the courage to change the things I can,and the wisdom to know the difference.”

“The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.”

“Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems.”

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

“Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

“comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable”

“To the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in an effort to prove they are indestructible.”

“The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. ”

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism. ”

“Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.”

“Democracies are indeed slow to make war, but once embarked upon a martial venture are equally slow to make peace and reluctant to make a tolerable, rather than a vindictive, peace. ”

“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 must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”

“Tuhan, karuniailah saya ketabahan untuk menerima hal-hal yang tidak bisa saya ubah,Keberanian untuk mengubah hal-hal yang bisa saya ubah,Dan kebijaksanaan untuk membedakan keduanya.”

“Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer … Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith.”

“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.”