Reinhold Niebuhr

Human Beings are just good enough to make democracy possible...just bad enough to make it neccessary.

Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.

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

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

The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan values and ends is... the source of all religious fanaticism.

There is no cure for the pride of a virtuous nation but pure religion.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe, as from our own. Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.