Quotes from Reinhold Niebuhr
There is no cure for the pride of a virtuous nation but pure religion.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history therefore we must be saved by faith.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
The prophet himself stands under the judgment which he preaches. If he does not know that, he is a false prophet.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone therefore we are saved by love.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime therefore we must be saved by hope.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architectural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to religion as well as to art. Ignorance of the past does not guarantee freedom from its imperfections.
- Reinhold Niebuhr