“Humanity demands from their leaders the courage to sin. To take account of reality means to take account of the devil. And to take account of the devil without degenerating and slipping into him is a difficult skill; it is the true problem of an ethic of balance, of the true center, not the ethic of simply negating what resists the demands of honesty, conviction, and love.” PoliticsLeadershipSinCourageMoralityEthicsDevilFallibility Book:Grenzen der Gemeinschaft Source: Grenzen der Gemeinschaft
“We do not sufficiently respect that anti-mephistoclean force which, like the mephistoclean one, threatens the balance of life: a force that constantly wishes what is good and constantly produces what is evil.” EvilSinMoralityDevilTemptationFaustMephistopheles Book:Grenzen der Gemeinschaft Source: Grenzen der Gemeinschaft
“The devil, cheated of his legitimate portion of human life, avenges itself by taking over all of life.” EvilMoralityDevilIdealismPerfectionismPuritanism Book:Grenzen der Gemeinschaft Source: Grenzen der Gemeinschaft
“Everything must be structured around the center - from the core of the being of the person and not just one aspect of him, from his heart, as the vernacular names the source of the individual - and not from his head. The excessive stretching of the consciousness of responsibility - for which the excessive expansion of the belief in reason, in the social and political effectiveness of conviction, is to blame - already has been broken asunder in the world ... For the most serious human evil is lack of moderation.” EvilMoralityGuiltExcessModerationExtremismPerfectionismPuritanism Book:Grenzen der Gemeinschaft Source: Grenzen der Gemeinschaft