Quotes by

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is the fellowship of the Cross to experience the burden of the other. If one does not experience it, the fellowship he belongs to is not Christian. If any member refuses to bear that burden, he denies the law of Christ. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. One does not exist without the other. Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Gods truth judges created things out of love, and Satans truth judges them out of envy and hatred. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Human love has little regard for the truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Politics are not the task of a Christian. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer