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Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes

Theologian

Reinhold Niebuhr was a prominent American theologian whose work on Christian ethics and social ethics had a profound impact on the 20th century. He was a key figure in theological discourse, particularly for his exploration of the nature of sin and the church's role in society. Niebuhr's theological thought has influenced various Christian denominations and has had a lasting effect on political and social thought.

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Famous Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes

“Man is always worse than most people suspect, but also generally better than most people dream.”

People Men Dream Suspects

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Man is endowed by nature with organic relations to his fellow men; and natural impulse prompts him to consider the needs of others even when they compete with his own.”

Men Needs Natural Relation Fellows Impulse Fellow Man Prompts Needs Of Others

Book:Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)

Source: Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)

“Reason is not the sole basis of moral virtue in man. His social impulses are more deeply rooted than his rational life.”

Men Reason Social Moral Virtue Bases Rational Impulse Rooted Sole Moral Virtues

Book:Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

Source: Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

“The society in which each man lives is at once the basis for, and the nemesis of, that fulness of life which each man seeks.”

Men Life Is Bases Nemesis

Book:Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

Source: Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

“[There is] an increasing tendency among modern men to imagine themselves ethical because they have delegated their vices to larger and larger groups.”

Men Imagine Groups Modern Vices Tendencies Ethical Modern Man

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“It is the evil in man that makes democracy necessary, and man's belief in justice that makes democracy possible.”

Men Evil Belief Justice Democracy

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“All men are naturally included to obscure the morally ambiguous element in their political cause by investing it with religious sanctity.”

Men Political Causes Religious Elements Investing Obscure Sanctity Ambiguous

Book:Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr

Source: Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr

“My personal attitude toward atheists is the same attitude that I have toward Christians, and would be governed by a very orthodox text: "By their fruits shall ye know them." I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits - the relevant fruits - are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice. And whether the man is an atheist or a Christian, I would judge him by his fruits, and I have therefore many agnostic friends.”

Knows Men Would Be Christian Justice Attitude He Man Judging Charity Fruit Atheist Proportion Orthodox Relevant Agnostic

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“The stupidity of the average man will permit the oligarch, whether economic or political, to hide his real purposes from the scrutiny of his fellows and to withdraw his activities from effective control. Since it is impossible to count on enough moral goodwill among those who possess irresponsible power to sacrifice it for the good of the whole, it must be destroyed by coercive methods and these will always run the peril of introducing new forms of injustice in place of those abolished.”

Source: Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

“The fence and the boundary line are the symbols of the spirit of justice. They set the limits upon each man's interest to prevent one from taking advantage of the other.”

Men Spirit Interest Lines Justice Limits Advantage Boundaries Symbols Fence Taking Advantage

Book:The Nature and Destiny of Man: Human destiny

Source: The Nature and Destiny of Man: Human destiny

“That is one of the flagrant misconceptions about Catholicism in America that if a man is a Catholic he owes allegiance to what they say a foreign sovereign, or something like that.”

Ifs Men America Catholic Catholicism Sovereign Allegiance Misconception

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“There must be equality of all men before God and in a democratic society. Now that's one of the great achievements.”

Men Achievement Democratic Democratic Society Great Achievement

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“The Jews were the money-lenders of the Middle Ages so there's a stereotype of the slightly or more than slightly dishonest business man and this stereotype covers and obscures all the facts.”

Men Facts Age Middle Jew Stereotype Middle Ages Business Man Lenders Money Lenders

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I think that the Christian faith is right as against simple forms of secularism. That it believes that there is in man a radical freedom, and this freedom is creative but it is also destructive. And there's nothing that prevents this from being both creative and destructive.”

Thinking Men Believe Christian Form Simple Creative Radical Destructive Secularism Christian Faith

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits - the relevant fruits - are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice.”

Men Justice Judging Charity Fruit Proportion Relevant

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Whether the man is an atheist or a Christian, I would judge him by his fruits, and I have therefore many agnostic friends.”

Men Christian He Man Judging Fruit Atheist Agnostic

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“I might say that the debate between atheists and Christians is rather stale to me, because the Christians say, "You must be a Christian, or you must be a religious man, in order to be good," and the atheists will say, "It's beneath the dignity of a free man to bow his knee to a god, as if he were a sinner," or something like that.”

Ifs Men Might Christian Order Religious Dignity Atheist Be Good Debate Knees Sinner Bows Free Man Stale

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“That is the truth about man - that he has a curious kind of dignity, but also a curious kind of misery, and that these forms of agnosticism don't understand.”

Men Kind Form Dignity Misery Curious Agnosticism

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Where, but in the simplicity of the Gospel, can you hear about both the dignity of man and the misery of man?”

Men Dignity Misery Simplicity

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

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

“Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it.”

Men Sin Achieve Capable Perfection Originals Incapable Original Sin Conceiving

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Men have never been individually self-sufficient.”

Men Self Sufficient Teamwork Team Building Team Work Self Sufficient Team Working

Book:Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)

Source: Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)

“All men who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace.”

Men Grace Degrees Live By Serenity Assurance

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“The chief source of man's inhumanity to man seems to be the tribal limits of his sense of obligation to other men.”

Men Seems Hell Source Limits Obligation Chiefs Inhumanity Inhumanity To Man

Book:Man's Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and Enigmas of Man's Personal and Social Existence

Source: Man's Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and Enigmas of Man's Personal and Social Existence

“What is so funny about us is precisely that we take ourselves too seriously. Laughter is the same and healthy response to the innocent foibles of men; and even to some which are not innocent.”

Men Healthy Laughter Response Innocent Theologian Foibles

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men.”

Men Art Whole Politics Irrationality

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“All you earnest young men out to save the world. . . please, have a laugh.”

Men World Young Laughing Please Laughter Young Man Earnest Save The World Have A Laugh

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“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.”

Men Values Social Consciousness Modern Highest Profound True Religion Modern Man Uneasiness Social Values

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

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

Men Desire Creatures Historical Dimensions

Book:The Irony of American History

Source: The Irony of American History

“Nationalism: One of the effective ways in which the modern man escapes life's ethical problems.”

Men Way Problem Nations Modern Nationalism Ethical Modern Man

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“The final test of religious faith... is whether it will enable men to endure insecurity without complacency or despair, whether it can so interpret the ancient verities that they will not become mere escape hatches from responsibilities but instruments of insights into what civilization means.”

Men Mean Religious Responsibility Civilization Despair Tests Instruments Mere Endure Finals Ancient Insight Insecurity Religious Faith Complacency

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Man has always been his own most vexing problem.”

Author:Reinhold Niebuhr

“Man is both strong and weak, both free and bound, both blind and far-seeing. He stands at the juncture of nature and spirit; and is involved in both freedom and necessity.”

Men Spirit Strong Seeing Involved Weak Blind Bounds Juncture

Book:The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation : Human Nature

Source: The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation : Human Nature

“The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his essence. It can only be understood as a self-contradiction, made possible by the fact of his freedom but not following necessarily from it.”

Men Made Self Facts Sin Understood Essence Committed Following Contradiction Defects

Book:The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation : Human Nature

Source: The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation : Human Nature