The Best Niebuhr quotes

In a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, it’s important to have something or someone to focus on that provides stability. For many entrepreneurs, that person is philosopher and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. His quotes provide guidance in the face of turbulence and remind entrepreneurs why they started their businesses in the first place. Here are some of our favorite Reinhold Niebuhr quotes for entrepreneurs.

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The best niebuhr quotes

1. The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

2. All men who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

3. 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. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

4. The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

5. Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer โ€ฆ Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

6. Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

7. Forgiveness is the final form of love. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

8. History is a realm in which human freedom and natural necessity are curiously intermingled. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

9. The churches that are most obviously democratic are most obviously given to race prejudice. I mean the churches that have absolute congregational control. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

10. All this talk about atheistic materialism and Godโ€“fearing American I think is beside the point; it’s a rather vapid form of religion. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

11. There is] an increasing tendency among modern men to imagine themselves ethical because they have delegated their vices to larger and larger groups. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

12. There is] an increasing tendency among modern men to imagine themselves ethical because they have delegated their vices to larger and larger groups. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

13. A republic properly understood is a sovereignty of justice, in contradistinction to a sovereignty of will. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

14. Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer โ€ฆ Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

15. All you earnest young men out to save the world please, have a laugh. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

16. Men have never been individually selfโ€“sufficient. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

17. I don’t know whether any religious leader would say that we must ultimately win, because we’re on God’s side. If they do say that, it’s bad religion. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

18. The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

19. To the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in an effort to prove they are indestructible. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

20. Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

21. It’s always wise to seek the truth in our opponents’ error, and the error in our own truth. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

22. Where, but in the simplicity of the Gospel, can you hear about both the dignity of man and the misery of man? โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

23. For man as an historical creature has desires of indeterminate dimensions. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

24. To be religious is not to feel, but to be. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

25. Human Beings are just good enough to make democracy possible…just bad enough to make it neccessary. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

26. All known existence points beyond itself. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

27. I cannot worship the abstractions of virtue: she only charms me when she addresses herself to my heart, speaks through the love from which she springs. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

28. Where, but in the simplicity of the Gospel, can you hear about both the dignity of man and the misery of man? โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

29. Love is the motive, but justice is the instrument. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

30. To be religious is not to feel, but to be. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

31. All social cooperation on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

32. The history of mankind is a perennial tragedy; for the highest ideals which the individual may project are ideals which he can never realize in social and collective terms. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

33. It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

34. It’s always wise to seek the truth in our opponents’ error, and the error in our own truth. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

35. For democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for insoluble problems. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

36. Until the fear of catastrophe amends, or catastrophe itself destroys… โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

37. 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. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

38. 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. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

39. Men insist most vehemently upon their certainties when their hold upon them has been shaken. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

40. Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

41. O God give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed courage to change what should be changed and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

42. Perhaps the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

43. I think there is and ultimate answer in a true religious faith, but it doesn’t give you any immediate answers, it doesn’t. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

44. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

45. Men insist most vehemently upon their certainties when their hold upon them has been shaken. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

46. There is no cure for the pride of a virtuous nation but pure religion. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

47. God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

48. Men insist most vehemently upon their certainties when their hold upon them has been shaken. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

49. The prophet himself stands under the judgment which he preaches. If he does not know that, he is a false prophet. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

50. I think there is and ultimate answer in a true religious faith, but it doesn’t give you any immediate answers, it doesn’t. โ€” Reinhold Niebuhr

Conclusion

We hope these quotes about Reinhold Niebuhr have given you insight into the life and work of this influential theologian, philosopher, and social activist. Niebuhr’s wisdom and thoughtfulness continue to inspire people today, and he has left a lasting impression on the world.

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